Watch: Escaped chimpanzee in Kharkiv returned to zoo on bicycle

An escaped chimpanzee in the bombarded Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was returned to the zoo on a bicycle, a video shared on social media sites showed.

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The great ape had managed to escape from its enclosure and wandered over to the nearby Svobody Square, according to local broadcaster Suspilne.

The video shows it frolicking around in streets and the square of the northeastern city before a woman approaches him with a bright yellow jacket.

She holds out the jacket and the chimp slips into the garment, and the pair embrace.

The video then cuts to a clip of the same woman helping the monkey stay upright on a bicycle, presumably wheeling him back to the zoo.

Kharkiv zoo director Oleksiy Grigoriev confirmed to Suspilne on Monday that the escaped animal had been returned to its enclosure.

The video has brought joy online to residents of the bombed-out city, as the war enters is seventh month.

Kharkiv, near the Russian border, was an early target for Vladimir Putin’s forces who launched a devastating shelling campaign on the city.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed by Russian bombs in the city, according to Amnesty International.

Many animals from the Feldman Ecopark, just outside of the city, were moved to the central Kharkiv Zoo.

The ecopark made the heartbreaking decision in May to euthanize many of its large predatory animals including lions and tigers, owner Alexander Feldman said on Facebook.

Russian shelling had destroyed their enclosures and there were fears that the big cats could escape and terrorize the local population.

Fighting rages on as Ukraine presses forward with a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, with “heavy fighting” reported on Wednesday by the UK’s Ministry of Defense

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