The award-winning Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Wildlife Foundation have won the race against time to save four war-traumatised Ukrainian lions.

The park has now offered a new home to mum Aysa and her three 15 month-old cubs, Emi, Santa, and Teddi, at its Lion Country.

The rescued lions spent nine months in a holding facility in Poland having escaped Russian bombs. The only space available was indoors and the youngsters grew up without seeing the sky or having the stimulation of the outside world.

Having crossed six countries and travelled 2,000 miles they finally arrived at their safe haven in Yorkshire on Wednesday night.

Aysa, from a private collection in the Donetsk region, was abandoned as Russian invaders occupied Ukraine, leaving her and other animals alone, malnourished and stressed by bombings. She was rescued and taken to an interim sanctuary in Kiev where she gave birth to three cubs before they were all moved to the safety of the temporary facility in Poland.

Since escaping Ukraine, Aysa has been separated from her cubs as they were held in adjacent 15 ft square concrete holding pens in Poznan Zoo in western Poland. They were finally loaded onto a lorry on Tuesday to be driven the 1,000 miles to Yorkshire and caught the ferry between Calais and Dover before arriving at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Wednesday.

The lions will spend their first few weeks being evaluated and rehabilitated by the staff at YWP, out of sight from the public until they are ready to take their first steps out into the expansive reserves of Lion Country.

The Park will post regular updates on the lions’ progress on social media as they settle into their new home before they venture out into Lion Country and visitors on site will be able to see them in their new home on a special screen outside Lion Country.

Funds raised will be used to support Yorkshire Wildlife Park by helping with the Ukrainian lions’ veterinary care, rehabilitation and supporting future emergency animal rescues from Ukraine and other disaster areas