An Indian doctor in Ukraine has refused to move out despite the heavy shelling because he does not want to abandon his two pets- a black panther and a jaguar.

Girikumar Patil, who bought the two cats from the Kyiv zoo about 20 months ago, says he will not leave home without his pets. He has been in Severodonetsk, a small town located in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, for more than six years.

After the Russian military operation began, Giri has been stepping out of his small basement only to buy food for his cats after the curfew ends early in the morning.

"My big cats have been spending nights in the basement with me. There has been a lot of bombing happening around us. The cats are scared. They are eating less. I can't leave them," the 40-year-old Patil told BBC.

Mr Patil said he arrived in Ukraine in 2007 to study medicine. Since 2014, he has been a practising as an orthopaedic and now works in a government hospital in Severodonetsk which was shut after the war began. He said he also does private practice.

He told BBC that he spent most of his earnings on his pets.

He said he had been fascinated with big cats ever since he watched his favourite southern Indian film star, Chiranjeevi, in a movie with leopards.

Patil, who is single, said his parents have been calling him and asking him to come back to India but he cannot leave his pets.

Dr Patil belongs to Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district. He hopes that the Indian government will allow him to take his pets home.