This is The Guardian.

Today, one man and his dog in Ukraine and their journey on foot through a brutal war zone.

Dan, in all your career have you ever heard a story like Eagles?

I don't think I have.

I don't think I've ever heard a story with such twists and turns, sort of moments of really high drama.

Dan Bofi is the Guardian's Brussels correspondent.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, his beat changed.

Within weeks, he was posted in Kiev.

There, he had a story of a man from Mariapol, Igor Paden.

It'd been through something remarkable.

It's the story of somebody who was in living hell, who at some point decides that he has only one choice and that's to get out.

The only way out was to walk. Hundreds of kilometers, just him and his little dog, Zuzu, across the biggest war zone in Europe since 1945.

On his journey, he would side-step landmines and cross destroyed bridges.

He would bypass Russian checkpoint and check-tune soldiers bristling with weapons and knives and guns.

He would see smoldering homes and meet men and women who had lost the will to carry on.

Taking his guidance from the sun, settling in where he can at dusk, often not in public events that he'll wake up the next morning.

From the Guardian, I'm Nushin Ekbal.

Today in focus, the extraordinary journey of Igor and Zuzu.

The story of Igor Paden reached Dan Boffy through word of mouth.

It was an outlandish tale that had been rippling through the neighbourhood and finally made its way to Dan's colleague, the journalist and interpreter, Constantine Andrews.

The two of them sat out to find Igor. He'd never told his whole story to a journalist, but he sat down with them outside a cafe at the bottom of a high-rise tower block.

Okay, can I ask his name? I'm Ja. I'm Ja. Igor, Igor, Paden.

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