Famous cat Stepan was honored at the World Influencers and Bloggers Awards after escaping from Ukraine.

A famous Ukrainian cat from Instagram received an honorary award at the World Influencers and Bloggers Awards (WIBA) held in Cannes.

13-year-old Stepan, who has 1.3 million followers on the platform, is best known for his hilarious photos of typical grumpy poses posted by his lovable owner, Anna.

She also walked the royal catwalk by appearing in an advertisement for the Valentino fashion brand. In March, with the help of WIVA, the animal was forced to flee war-torn Ukraine and seek safety and asylum in France.

Since taking refuge, Stepan and Anna have raised more than £7,000 for charities to help war-affected animals, with funds split between Happy Paw, UAnimals, Mykolaiv Zoo, XII Months and Plyushka charities.

Charitable efforts saw the caring cat win an award this year from WIBA, which turned its annual ceremony into a fundraising gala for Ukraine.

After a tumultuous few months, Stepan was recently spotted in a photograph in one of his distinctive casual poses, sitting next to a glass of wine and the WIBA award.

Anna shared the victory on Instagram and shared a photo of Stepan sitting in a characteristic pose with his hairy elbow propped up against the table, and captioned: “Celebrating the victory! Thanks for all your support! ‘

Kitten fans were delighted not only by the news of the victory, but also seeing one of the traditional photos of the cat on their profile.

Among the comments on the photo, which received 283,000 likes, “YAY! Stepan is like old times! I miss that elbow touch on the table.’

Another added: “Stepan is back in his old form!”

And a third, “STEPAN !! This warms my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I know your new normal is still painful, but thank you for doing this pose for all of us.”

Thousands of people responded to an Instagram post shared by Anna and Stepan on Instagram, where the sullen celebrity posed with her award.

Stepan went viral earlier this year after his Instagram account went black between March 3 and March 15, raising concerns among fans that the cat and Anna may have been injured or killed in the attacks in Kharkov, where they live.

However, on March 16, Anna took to the platform to reassure her followers, informing them that she and Stepan were safe and that they took refuge in France after leaving Ukraine.

A post showing Stepan looking scared in his travel bag and on the train was accompanied by a long headline describing the grueling journey from Ukraine.

Fans were worried for Stepan and Anna earlier this year when their Instagram accounts fell from the sky during the war in Ukraine. After a two-week hiatus, Anna updated with a message to her followers that the couple was forced to leave the country.

In an Instagram post that Anna shared in March, notifying fans that she and Stepan are still alive, she showed this photo of Stepan hiding in a coat during their grueling trip to France.

“We were sleeping at home early in the morning on February 24. “There was an explosion at five in the morning and I didn’t even know what it was,” he said.

“After a while, half an hour later, there was more explosions, the windows shook. I stood up and realized that something terrible had happened!

‘Attack and bombardment of Kharkov (especially in northern Saltovka, where we live). We understood that war had come to our house.’

The post also described their difficult journey: “We took the train Kharkov – Lviv (20 hours later we were in Lviv). Then we followed it to the Polish border.

“We got in line at a crosswalk at the border. There were a lot of people (4-5 thousand). We crossed the border after 9 pm.

“When we arrived in Poland, we got help from the World Influencers and Bloggers Association in Munich.

“They helped us go to France to wait for the day we could go home. Now we are fine. We are very worried about our relatives in Ukraine and we will do our best to help our country,” he said.