They cut into people’s dogs alive before their eyes. Skinned them

At first there was chaos and panic, people couldn’t believe it. Many didn’t want to leave — it seemed like the Russian army, these soldiers, would see that these are peaceful cities. They wouldn’t kill, loot, rape, or torment. They’d see there are no Nazis here, no military equipment — just towns and villages — and leave.

In Vorzel, they butchered people’s dogs alive right before their eyes. You won’t see that on the news. They skinned dogs. They shot up zoos. The workers who stayed behind would never abandon the animals in their care — and the soldiers knew that. These aren’t people, they’re not even living beings. Calling them animals is an insult to animals — animals never do that, they don’t kill for pleasure.

No decent person among us would abandon an animal. Even our soldiers — yesterday they rescued a chicken, saved a baby hare, they pull out kittens. The difference is staggering. I don’t understand how we’re the same biological species. We cherish every life, every sprout, every seed of life, even when it’s fading. And they starve not only people by blocking humanitarian aid — they starve dogs too.

Teenage girls, saving horses, just rode them bareback through the fields. In the 21st century! They climbed on without harnesses, without anything, held onto the mane, and just galloped away to save the horses.

Imagine the horror of a zoo director who has to decide to euthanize large predators because their enclosures are destroyed, and they might break free and cause havoc in the panic. Can you imagine the state of animals under constant shelling? You can’t explain to them what it is, why it’s booming — and animals get shell-shocked. How many animals were killed, how many horses burned alive. And people were forced to witness it. What kind of creatures do this — they’re just demons from hell.

Most of us understand why they do it — to defile, humiliate, to make everyone kneel. But that will never happen. The more evil they commit, the more fury grows in us. And that fury will have terrible consequences for them and the people who raised them, who stay silent or just support them.

Our president said that we are the light and they are the darkness, and it’s true. Because only evil can cut a dog to pieces and force its owner to watch. They ate dogs. Those hiding in basements shared their last drop of water, their last crumb with their pet. These are completely different understandings. It’s impossible to comprehend that such evil exists in the world. Intercepted calls… Their mothers support them, their wives, their children write: “Kill all the Ukrainians faster and come home.”

My relatives stayed in the east, many of my friends died in the east and in Kharkiv. They don’t leave because these are proud people — this is our land, we’ll fight tooth and nail for it. People remain who can’t be evacuated. My godmother tells me: “А якщо ми поїдемо, хто годуватиме Дружка?..” (“And if we leave, who will feed Druzhok?..”). Just for contrast.

We’ll be recovering from this for a very long time. We can’t cry, or suffer, or be weak, because we’re needed by those who are much worse off right now. Every day we receive people and animals, from morning to night — someone needs to be transported, people need to be moved, shelters need help.

When the first sirens went off on February 24, I understood — this was it, the thing everyone feared.

And from the 24th I sat down at my phone and started writing to everyone who could drive, telling them they needed to come to Lviv, that we take in people with animals first of all.

At first we simply placed people in apartments and country houses — mine, my friends', acquaintances', clients'. It was important for people to know they were expected here. Back then, nothing was organized at the state or municipal level yet. By the second week, things started getting organized at the government level.

We began to understand we couldn’t take everyone in without a flow across the border. Just as we had complete strangers living in our apartment, most Lviv residents had several families with various animals in their homes. I got in touch with the “Pets & People” team in Kyiv and another large dog training school “Helion” — they were in the central part and could coordinate and help locally. Many can’t leave — there are shelters with huge numbers of animals, entire eco-parks, zoos, horse farms and stables. You can’t evacuate everyone quickly.

Somehow we met Lena from Belgium — she and her team privately helped us with humanitarian supplies, in huge volumes: food, equipment, carriers. The first time, Lena wanted to cross the border herself, but couldn’t — she has a Russian passport and was turned away.

At first everything was purchased, delivered, and paid for with our own money, while it lasted. When we were gasping for air, humanitarian aid started coming in massive quantities. That made it possible to keep going, because sometimes you just wanted to hug your knees and cry — you understand that you need to keep going, but there’s no resource left, nowhere to draw it from…

There’s a meme going around the internet that Ukrainian volunteers can get anything, even order themselves a good husband. We just pulled together so tightly with our own efforts — I don’t remember anything like this in my 36 years of life. Need money? Here! If I have it, I’ll give it. When I have nothing at all, I’ll ask, and I know I’ll receive. And it’s like this all across Ukraine. Now many work during the day and volunteer at night. Or the other way around.

A volunteer from a team in then-occupied Chernihiv contacted us — he managed to deliver humanitarian aid under gunfire, including for animals, even though their bus was completely shot up. Heroically — they even crossed by boat, because one pedestrian bridge was under sniper fire and another one no longer existed.

At first, Poland allowed unlimited animals through the border. Poland deserves a deep bow — they did everything they could on their end, including microchipping, vaccinations, and processing documents right at the border.

The idea that everyone is fighting on their own front right now — that’s the truth. My friends are restaurateurs across Ukraine, they’re trying to work somehow to have money to buy food for refugees and the Armed Forces. In the same way, we try to do some consultations, charge at least something, so we can send it on.

Almost every vet clinic owner contributes what they can. But if they give everything away for free, the economy stops. You need a warm heart but a cool head. Giving the shirt off your back is noble, but then you can’t help anyone else. And Kormotekh [a pet food manufacturer] — great people — they send part of their production as humanitarian aid and sell the rest specifically to keep producing.

Your heart breaks into pieces every day and every second from the horror that’s happening. But there are situations and people who literally stitch that heart back together with silk threads, because you realize you haven’t been forgotten, you haven’t been abandoned.

There is no hatred among Ukrainians toward Russian speakers. I speak Russian. Nobody hates Russian speakers or people from Russia, if they are human.

But it’s important to understand — we don’t want this to end as quickly as possible. We want this to end as quickly as possible with victory. This is not just Ukraine’s victory, not just defending our country — this is the victory of good over evil.

The world must think about whether it wants any connection to this darkness. The rays that exist, rays of light, goodness, and truth — they leave, or they can’t break through. My only blood relatives still there — my uncle, his family, my cousins — they live near Taganrog. When on the 24th I started posting desperate messages, not understanding anything: you visited our Ukrainian land several times a year, you embraced us, the same blood runs in our veins. All messages were read, but not a single one was answered.