A terrified dog who was discovered hiding out in a burned-out gas station in Ukraine has been given a second lease of life by an animal sanctuary, and he's become their permanent resident.

Anton Kirichenko and Anastasiia Kirichenko, volunteers for UAnimal Rescue, were feeding stray animals in Hostomel, near Kyiv, when they "accidentally stumbled across" Vinny, the senior dog in a destroyed gas station.

Vinny was the only creature in the station, as Anton Kirichenko told Newsweek that he was "hiding away" in a small area that avoided any blasts and destruction. There was no denying the bad condition that Vinny was in, and they didn't hesitate to take him back to their sanctuary for further treatment.

"The place was completely burned out and Vinny was the only one at the time," Kirichenko said.

"He required a lot of care, but the major ones included removing his teeth of they were causing infection. He wasn't able to use them anyway and was refusing any food. He had an inner ear infection which has required dozens of ear flushes, and he had surgical removal of some shrapnel from his skin."

As he's an older dog, the recovery has been fairly slow, but the rescue dog has come a long way since that day. He still has regular skin treatment as it's believed that he may suffer with allergies, but they haven't discovered what those might be yet.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February 2022, over 11 million people have been displaced, according to the Humane Society. In addition to all those people, there are plenty of animals who have been killed in the conflict, or lost their homes as a result of it.

The Humane Society International predicts that 100,000 pets in Ukraine will have received lifesaving aid by the end of 2024. So far, their partnership with the Ukrainian Red Cross has delivered over 205 tons of pet food to help those in need, as well as 48 tons of cat litter, 3,530 litter boxes, and 9,000 packages of flea prevention.

Becoming a Permanent Shelter Resident

Compared to how unwell he was when he was first found, Vinny has certainly come a long way. He's doing much better now, but he is still taking antibiotics and vitamins to fight off the persistent infections.

"He is doing great, especially given his age. We are still working on him now, but he is on his way to a full recovery," Kirichenko continued.

At first, the UAnimal Rescue workers hoped that Vinny could find his forever home once he was fully healed. However, for a senior dog with so many health complications, adoption is unlikely. As the months passed by, it became clear that the chance of finding him a loving family were diminishing, so they decided to make Vinny "a permanent resident" of their sanctuary.

"We did originally try to find him a home, but very few people want to adopt a dog with this many health issues, and those who do are outside of Ukraine and can't afford his relocation."

Nonetheless, Vinny loves his life in the sanctuary and gets plenty of fuss and love every single day. He's even built up his very own social media following with @vinny.ua on TikTok.

One clip, showing "the best day" when he was discovered by the shelter volunteers in the burned-out gas station has gone viral with over 1.4 million views and more than 102,100 likes so far.

His story has certainly broken hearts and left people in tears, but Kirichenko has loved the "overwhelmingly positive" reactions they've received online. Many people thanked them for saving Vinny's life and giving him a new start, leading to more than 700 comments on the viral post.

One comment reads: "Well I am very grateful to you for rescuing that poor dog."

Another TikTok wrote: "Thank you for saving this baby."

While one TikToker responded: "the day you found your people."

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