Watch Russian driver risk crash to save terrified kitten stranded on busy highway

A driver has been dubbed a hero after stopping his car on a busy Russian highway to rescue a kitten in danger of being run over.

A video released by Safe City Kalingrad, which carries out safety surveillance for the city, shows the kitten tumbling on the highway, possibly tossed or having fallen from a passing car. Then it's apparently frozen in fear, as vehicles dodge it or pass right sover it.

It looks like it's going to be a horrific ending until one driver stops in the lane with his hazard lights on, risking a crash, scoops up the ball of fur, gets back into his car and drives off.

A Russian newspaper tracked down the life-saver –Denis Degtyarev who lives in Kalingrad.

"He was so helpless that I could not pass by," said Degtyarev.

The kitten was so young it could not even eat by itself, but Degtyarev took care of it with the help of friends and family and found it a home.

"My hero ... sigh," wrote one YouTube viewer. "I'm going to marry that man," wrote another.

As the Russian newspaper noted, according to a Google translation: "If there is one such as Denis, then all is not lost in this world."