Dognappers steal Ukrainian 'refugee' puppy, leaving heartbroken owner with £3,000 vet bill

A sausage dog puppy saved from the clutches of war in Ukraine and taken to safety in Britain was stolen by a couple of thugs in Essex and left severely injured.

Jolanta Marczyk, 23, a Polish administrative worker at Great Ormond Street Hospital, drove 1,200 miles from Grays, Essex, to Lviv in western Ukraine, to rescue Brandy, an eight-month-old dachshund.

Yet just two days after returning to Grays, the puppy was stolen from her car. 

Brandy managed to escape but was left with multiple skull fractures and a broken nose that will cost £3,000 for vets to scan and mend.  

It is thought she may have received the injuries from being hit by a car after she escaped the thieves. 

Essex Police said they were hunting the thieves and appealed for witnesses or anyone with dash cam footage.

The moment two yobs took the poor dog was caught on camera. A man in a white shirt and another in a pink shirt wearing a white bucket hat with a bag across his shoulder appeared to grab the puppy through the car's window.

The dog can be heard yelping as the two thieves run away.  

Jolanta said: 'I'm absolutely devastated and just praying Brandy pulls through.

'What sort of people do this?' 

Jolanta had been visiting her mother in Krakow, Poland, and rescued Brandy from family friends she knew in Lviv.

Jolanta's friend Aneta Wasilewska saw what happened and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the vet bills.

It has so far raised more than £3,700 and Jolanta thanked people for their 'fantastic' support and donations. 

Meanwhile, Aneta said: 'I witnessed something I didn't want to believe at first it has actually happened.

'Two very horrible people broke onto the car and took her away. 

'We all tried to look for her that night but there was no sign of either the dog or the people who took her.

She said Brandy 'can't properly breathe' because of her injuries but said she hoped the dog would make it through.