Animals of War

From the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, the lives of all Ukrainian people have changed forever. We have to remember that the war has an influence on humans' pets as well.

I have been volunteering for 12 years now. During the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, I told myself “Don’t give up” and all these warm moments have helped me a lot. 

The help of volunteers has become a matter of survival for many animals. 

Many of those beloved pets, who had lived in warm houses with people’s caring hands, found themselves on the street, in fear, and not ready for life outside the home.

Members of the “Animal Rescue Center” Charitable Foundation are very grateful to those who did everything possible to bring their pets while leaving Ukraine. Such responsibility was gratifying. We noticed many Ukrainians with their pets at train stations. We understand how hard it is to start a new life abroad and we truly admire those people who are doing this together with their pets. 

My views on volunteering have changed. Just when my hands fail, I try to remember the bright moments, like the eyes of grateful animals or grateful looks of people.

Yuliia's daughter and rescued animals

Yuliia's daughter and rescued animals

We not only evacuated animals to safe places, placed them in families, and sent them abroad. We delivered food and medicine to dangerous areas. We took out the wounded and sick. We provided pensioners with food and medicines for animals. 

I remember the first days of the war, when we went to pick up animals who needed to be evacuated from Kyiv. Our fear. Realizing that we were risking everything, that our small children were waiting for us at home, but the call of the heart could not be stopped. There were many animals who needed support. Pets were scared. We pulled ourselves together, we crawled into destroyed houses under the roar of rockets and tried to get a frightened animal. Often it was not possible to save them, and even more often we saw fatalities. But we had to keep our cool and understood that we needed to handle emotions, “not to cry but to save”.

Yuliia's husband and one of the rescued cats

Ukrainians are a strong nation, who together can move mountains. I personally saw this. But we become so much stronger when we have support.

I believe. I am confident that through the strength of our Armed Forces the Ukrainian people will win and everyone will be able to return to normal life. I wish that it would happen as soon as possible, but without the help of other countries it would be more difficult for us. 

So thank you all for your invaluable help.

Yuliia Dumyra,

activist of the Green Youth of Ukraine, 

Co-founder of the Charitable Foundation  "Animal Rescue Center",

Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi