Ukrainian refugees forced to abandon, evacuate pets amid invasion

As over 1.7 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country in the wake of the Russian invasion, many have sought to rescue their pets and animals, sometimes at the risk of their own lives. 

Prior to the invasion, husband-wife duo Tonya Trofimchuk and Bogdan Leseyko typically managed 30 to 60 pets per month and cared for dozens of strays in Kyiv, as well through their organization Adopt Don’t Stop. 

But when the Russian attack began just under two weeks ago, Trofimchuk and Maria Lapshina, an administrator of one of the animal shelters, spent their nights in a metro station that served as a bomb shelter. By day, the women ran out to an animal shelter to care for the 14 rescues that remained there, according to a daily update from a group of Ukrainian journalists working inside and outside Ukraine. 

Since then, the women have transported the animals to safer regions in western parts of the country, using a car provided by strangers they connected with on social media.

Other Ukrainian evacuees were forced to leave their pets behind as they fled their homes, hopeful that they could return to them after the violence subsided. 

“Most [owners] left pets with food and water supply for about ten days. People hoped they’ll come back by that time,” Dmitry Revnyuk, who co-founded a veterinary magazine, told the Ukrainian journalist group.

Yulya Balaeva was forced to leave 15 cats behind when she left her home in Irpin, a city that came under heavy attacks that killed at least two small children.

“We got under fire when we were crossing the bombarded bridge. Our dog was scared of the explosions and ran away,” Balaeva said in a Facebook post, the Ukrainian journalist group reported. “We couldn’t catch her since there was a threat of another attack. A Russian drone followed us. Soon, there were two explosions. We were on the evac bus already. The blast almost blew out the bus windows. We were all on the floor.” 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has killed at least 406 civilians and left 801 others injured since the war began on Feb. 24, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. But the U.N. noted that the “real figures are considerably higher.” 

Ukraine’s emergency service has estimated the civilian death toll at more than 2,000.