But even in videos from front line soldiers you will see them sometimes with great affection talking about the trenches pet cat or the like because when your in dire straights that animal can be huge for you I'm a similar was as people with anxiety may have a service animal to help keep stay calm where people never could. So it's less about humans not caring about other humans but more so that war is a terrifying concept and people don't want to think about the senseless deaths of these men over expansionist greed but that dog helps them explore it in a hopeful light

Expanding on my previous point though the dog also has more appeal to people outside Ukraine than the Ukrainian soldier unfortunately, people love animals if they see a touching post about somebody being reunited with their pet stolen by Russian aggressors they might then decide to donate a buck or 2 to a cause that directly or indirectly helps the wider Ukrainian people. And a story about a dog being reunited with its owner is more likely to be shared in conflict averse crowds than a prisoner exchange. I have friends who I can't talk about their war with because they don't like the topic but by making it about the dog I can bring up a difficult topic that they otherwise wouldn't hear much about in a way they can digest and they may then in the same way support a cause

Its not about the morale of the singular captured soldier they are trying to maintain the morale of an entire nation under constant bombardment and outnumbered in the cold of winter without power

This dog actually does wonders for morale and continues to keep more international eyes on the fight ukraine trades Russian soldier for Ukrainian soldier while a good thing doesn't have the same pull as a story about a dog to pull at the heartstrings of people around the world