War Dogs: Companion Animals Rescued from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
by Paul James and Thomas Machowicz
Photography by Thomas Machowicz
February, 2022
At a camp outside the Polish border town of Medyka, shipping containers dot the grounds of a former Soviet collective farm.
The blue and grey steel boxes, which have grown to number 12 in a matter of two weeks, are offices and storage compartments, sleep bunks and dog kennels. Fundacja Centaurus and PETA Germany, the animal rescue organizations running the camp, are an important link in the animal rescue pipeline that runs between western Europe to eastern Ukraine to provide for people and their pets fleeing conflict.
Dogs wait to be walked while their cages are cleaned at the animal aid camp in Medyka, Poland on March 14th, 2022. These dogs are from different parts of Ukraine, all rescued and brought out of the country by volunteers.
In the month following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 3.6 million refugees fled the country in search of safety. Many companion animals, including dogs, cats, birds and rodents, traveled with them—and many were left behind, displaced by the heavy fighting.
Fundacja Centaurus workers unload a semi-truck delivery of donated dog and cat food at the animal aid camp on March 14th, 2022. The need for supplies and space for animals is so great that the camp grew from a few shipping containers to more than 12 in just two weeks.
Animals rescued from conflict areas in eastern Ukraine travel to Lviv and then primarily on to Poland, where they connect with European rescue organizations and either reunite with their companions, receive care and housing at shelters or find new homes.
Places like the camp in Medyka have become staging grounds for the activities of volunteers who are bringing supplies and food into Ukraine while getting people and animals out.
Some make the trip across the border regularly, and others work from the camp to provide food, basic veterinary treatment, exercise and trips to the vet in town for vaccinations.
The pets, primarily dogs and cats, travel from camp to camp depending on capacity and the logistics of border crossings, awaiting the necessary vaccinations and animal passports and being fed, watered and walked.
Alexandra Vynnysta, an animal rescuer herself, stopped at Medyka on her way from Ukraine to Berlin, where she found a place for her family to stay through contacts in the animal rescue world.
Alexandra Vynnysta and her mother hold her daughter, Diana, as Alexandra prepares to evacuate her family from Lviv, Ukraine to Berlin, Germany on March 15th, 2022.
The invasion has forced many people to leave behind the places and people they know and love. “It is very difficult to leave your home where you grew up and your children grow up.”
“Our city has been bombed twice and we do not know what will happen next,” Alexandra said. Her family hid in the basement while air raid sirens sounded and the children cried. “I try not to cry so that the children don’t see because then they also start to worry.”
In addition to her two young children, Diana and Marko, Alexandra managed to bring both her dogs and a third puppy for whom she had arranged a home in Berlin.
“The puppy was thrown into a field where there were no people or food, the frost was -15 degrees at night,” she said. “I drove there purely by accident, feeding stray dogs nearby.” After taking the puppy home, she posted on Facebook and made a connection in Berlin with a person who wanted to adopt the dog.
Cherry and Marko Vynnysta sit in a van outside their grandmother's house on March 15th, 2022. Their mother Alexandra is taking her family from Lviv, Ukraine to stay in Berlin, Germany because of the constant threat of air strikes during the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Alexandra rescued all of her dogs from the street and found a place to stay in Berlin through her animal rescue contacts.
On March 15th, 2022, Alexandra Vynnysta, her 7-year-old daughter Diana, 3-year-old son Marko, and dogs Cherry and Muska are evacuated by Anu and Kasper who have come from Estonia to help rescue animals and people.
Getting Alexandra, her family and her dogs from Lviv to Berlin required a whole network of volunteers, shelters and services. Anu Sikk and Kaspar Kangsepp, a couple from Estonia, had been running missions to western Ukraine, resupplying overwhelmed shelters and helping to transport animals and people, including Alexandra.
Kaspar Kangsepp and Anu Sikk drop off food and medicine at the Tailed Hostages of War organization on March 14th, 2022. Anu and Kaspar drove Kaspar's work van and trailer from Estonia to help rescue animals and bring supplies into Ukraine.
Anu loads the van at the animal aid camp in Medyka, Poland in preparation to rescue cats from Ukraine on March 18th, 2022. The Fundacja Centaurus camp has thousands of kilograms of food ready to be delivered to shelters in Ukraine.
Anu Sikk holds a Bulldog as she picks up two puppies from a Ukrainian breeder who contacted her to take his dogs to a customer in western Europe on March 17th, 2022.
A Bulldog puppy lays in a crate in the back of Anu and Kaspar’s rescue vehicle on March 17th, 2022.
Anu and Kaspar drove a van and trailer from Estonia, funding their work through crowdfunded donations and planning to stay as long as they could before money ran out. One of their primary pathways was from Poland to Lviv, where supplies would then be distributed by local organizations in Ukraine.
Caption: a road sign wrapped in plastic to slow Russian troops, roadblocks, aid tents, dogs and a cemetery are seen from Anu and Kaspar’s rescue van on trips in and out of western Ukraine in March, 2022.
On the way out of Ukraine, the group stopped at the Dim Sirka animal shelter south of Lviv, arranging to transfer some animals to the camp in Medyka.
Dim Sirka had run low on food and supplies before Anu and Kaspar, along with Alexandra and her family, stopped to restock their food and evacuate nine dogs and four puppies to Poland.
The rescue pipeline relies on volunteers donating their time and a steady flow of supplies, connecting local animal rescue organizations in Ukraine with pathways to safety for their animals and vital stocks of food and medicine.
The animal rescue efforts continue against the violent backdrop of ongoing war, which has transformed the landscape for people and animals alike. In March 2022, Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as invasion forces expanded their reach from the eastern front into the heart of the country.
Animal rescue volunteers leaving from Medyka don body armor for their evacuation missions in Ukraine. The Kyiv Animal Rescue Group received a call about a dog trapped in tripwire around a military base in the city, and freed the animal just before a base patrol checked their IDs for being out past curfew.
In eastern Ukraine, emergency evacuations separated pets from their owners, leaving the animals to fend for themselves until rescue organizations could begin the work of reuniting the companions and providing assistance. In the most extreme cases, animal rescue workers have evacuated dogs and cats under fire and in the presence of Russian soldiers.
Amid the ongoing conflict, people rely on their pets for psychological support more than ever, and the bonds between animals and humans take on a clear importance. The work volunteers and animal rescue organizations do has been essential to preserving these relationships and offering solace to displaced people and their pets.
Animals have proven to be an integral part of how many Ukrainians are coping with the stress of ongoing war. Despite a lack of national data, reports have documented a sharp increase in pet ownership in Ukraine. Pets have become family members for many still living in the country, shaping daily life and helping to protect emotional wellbeing.
Rising dog ownership has also meant people are adopting more dogs, critical now that many animals have become strays as a result of the widespread destruction and disruption.
For as long as the conflict continues, animals and people will be there, living side by side and weathering the storm together.
Paul James is a freelance journalist and graduate student in migration and refugee studies.
Connect with him at paulhefel@gmail.com
