Khrystyna Drahomaretska: Why a Ukrainian Architect Chose Frontline Animal Rescue During a Long War

Khrystyna Drahomaretska is a 28-year-old Ukrainian animal rescuer and architect who left her profession after Russia’s full-scale invasion. She works as a stray-animal catcher and evacuates pets from combat areas, operating amid shelling and mines. In Toretsk, three guided aerial bombs detonated near her; in Vovchansk, she suffered shrapnel wounds during mortar fire while rescuing animals. She founded the Under the Sun shelter in Ukraine’s Odesa region, caring for 250 dogs, many of whom were treated, socialized, sterilized, vaccinated, and rehomed; about 70 percent are adopted abroad. She is UWARF’s country manager and partners with 12 Vartovykh, Animal Rescue Kharkiv, and UAnimals.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks why animal rescue, not another profession, during a long war. Khrystyna Drahomaretska says architecture evaporated after the invasion, so she stayed near family, tried to enlist, and chose animals as her frontline. She recounts early runs taking dogs to Europe for adoption, then returning with food for Kyiv-area towns just liberated, where mines and booby traps lingered. Seeing chained, starving animals drove her to build a shelter in Podilsk and expand rescue coverage. She credits Daniel “Dan” Fine with supporting sterilization at scale, then joined 12 Guards for evacuation missions, including Vovchansk, where shrapnel injured her.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What are the reasons for entering into animal rescue rather than another profession, particularly during a long war?

Khrystyna Drahomaretska: Before the war, I worked as an architect, but at the beginning, no one needed it. Before the war, I volunteered. I rescued them, but not when the full-scale invasion began. No one needed architecture, and everyone was looking for a way to survive or figure out what to do. Before the war, I had a dream of building skyscrapers somewhere in Canada or England, or, for example, in the Emirates.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I received many offers from abroad. They offered me a place to work and an apartment to live in. Many different companies from outside Ukraine made proposals to me. 

However, I wanted it before, but when I finally received many offers, I decided that I needed to stay in the country. Now I live in Podilsk, and my parents live there too. It is far from the front line, near the Moldova border, but no one knows what will happen next week. So I decided not to leave my parents and my family, and I cannot live abroad. It is not my way to run away. Usually, I prefer to fight. I thought it would be an important battle in my life.

At first, I decided to volunteer for the army. We made different nets. Everyone worked together on one mission—to help the army. I also wanted to join the army, but they told me no. They had many men at the time, and there were not enough weapons, so it did not make sense to take more people into the army.

So I decided to find my own way. At that time, I already had many dogs, and I decided to focus on the dogs I had rescued before. These dogs were in my friend’s shelter. We created the shelter together, but it was her shelter.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, many people in Europe were ready to take dogs from Ukraine. So we decided to take the dogs, put them in the car, and make documents for them. At that time, the requirements were simpler than they are now.

We made the documents, put them in the car, and went to Europe. We found families for these dogs there. On the way back, we asked ourselves why we were returning empty. There was a lot of dry food at the border, so we started looking for a way to bring food back to Ukraine.

In Ukraine, we found a bus. In Europe, we found a warehouse with dry food and began delivering it to Ukraine. It was March when areas around Kyiv were being liberated after the occupation. We took all this food and went to places around Kyiv—Horenka, Hostomel, and Bucha. The Russians had just left these places, and there were mines and unexploded ordnance. It was very dangerous.

If I had known how many mines and booby traps there could be, I would have been more careful, but at the time, it was new. We were really scared because it was dangerous. Forests could be mined, and houses could be mined, and we heard many stories that when the Russians left these places, they left explosive devices hidden in objects, including toys and household items, for example, in washing machines.

For example, when you try to open the gate to go into your yard, or when you try to open your car, there could be explosive devices. We heard about this, and we were really scared.

But we took the food and delivered it to Kyiv and nearby areas. The people who gave us this food needed a report, so we filmed everything we saw and how we fed the stray dogs. There were dogs in horrific condition. For example, now, when Russian forces attack a place like Dushkivka or try to occupy it, we usually have some time to evacuate animals or at least create a place where they can go. But at that time, people just left their dogs. They did not expect the invasion. They left them in kennels, on chains. Many dogs died because they had no food. They were like skeletons.

You may have heard about the shelter in Borodianka. There were around 300 dogs there. The owner of the shelter left them, and many of the dogs died. When we came, we brought food, but we saw that all these dogs needed medical care and needed to be relocated. So we started evacuating the dogs, and we needed a place to keep them. That is how I started to create my own shelter in Podilsk, in another region.

I did not have money. I started with $1,000 in my pocket. Nothing more. If you see it now, it is different. It has grown. Now, of course, we have more support, more workers, and we continue to grow. But if someone told me that I had to go through this entire path again, I would say no.

We evacuate as many animals as possible and as quickly as possible. We try different methods. Mostly, we send them to Europe because it is safer and people are generally more reliable there, though sometimes we meet people who are not.

We have a team. We have a photographer and a manager. We have a builder who is always building something. We are always trying to find money for his work. We never stop. He is always building and improving. We cannot afford to hire a full construction team to finish everything in two months, as we do not have those resources. Instead, we buy materials and pay this builder. It is a good way for us to grow. It is not fast, but we grow.

We also have a woman who is a dog trainer. She does not have time for full training, but she walks the dogs and teaches them to walk on a leash before we send them to their new families. We also have another man who does everything. He can assist the veterinarian during surgery and also build, for example, a dog kennel.

In our city, we also have a rescue team. For example, if we receive a call that someone has thrown away puppies or that a dog has been hit by a car, our team goes to the scene, takes the animal to the veterinarian, and treats it. We work not only in our city but across the entire region, because the whole region calls us.

We decided to bring the dogs to one place, to a shelter, and that is how we started the shelter. Then I met Dan Fine. At that time, he was raising significant funds for Ukraine and seeking ways to help. Before that, he had bought food, but he said we needed something more than just food. We explained that we needed sterilization. If you feed one dog today, in half a year, you will feed six dogs, because she will give birth to puppies, and the number will keep increasing. So we asked him to support a sterilization program.

He created the sterilization program, and with his support, we sterilized around 8,000 dogs over two years. Most of these sterilizations took place near the front line, including areas close to formerly occupied territories, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.

When the program ended due to declining donations, I met another team, 12 Guards. They had been working since the beginning of the war, mostly helping people, but later they shifted their focus to helping dogs. That is how we met, and together with Lala, we decided to go to the front line to evacuate dogs. Before that, this work had been done by Animal Rescue Kharkiv.

When Russian forces attempted to occupy Vovchansk, we began our first mission focused not only on sterilization but also on evacuation. It was our first evacuation mission. In Vovchansk, I was injured by a Russian missile. I was hit by shrapnel. It was very difficult to work during the day, so we decided to go at night. They saw us with a drone and tried to kill us. They could see that we were moving with dogs. I think they knew that soldiers would not be evacuating dogs, that we were volunteers, but they did not care. They sent a missile. The first explosion sent shrapnel through my leg and caused severe injury.

Then they sent the drone again and watched to see if we were still alive. When they saw that we were moving, they attacked us again. I thought that it would be my last day. But they missed. My team helped me, and we ran to our car. We drove out of Vovchansk, but on the road we did not use headlights. There was debris from a rocket on the road. The driver saw it, but it was already too late. He swerved to the left, and we had a car accident.

The car rolled over. It was very strong—the car ended up on its roof. We had a serious accident. The guys carried me to what we call a blindage, a dugout shelter in the ground used for protection. They put me there with the dogs and went to look for help because I needed to go to the hospital. I was bleeding.

At that time, there was a Russian volunteer unit fighting on Ukraine’s side. The guys stopped them and asked for help. So one Russian was trying to kill me, and another Russian was helping me. He transported me to a vehicle where Ukrainian medics treated me and then took me to the hospital.

Jacobsen: Do we have any estimates of the number of shelters in Ukraine now? Do we have accurate estimates of the number of stray dogs and cats? If so, where do these numbers come from?

Drahomaretska: No, it is impossible to know exactly how many dogs are in shelters. I know that the largest shelter has around 3,500 dogs and about 500 cats. That is a very large shelter. There are also shelters with around 1,500 dogs, but most have closer to 500.

We do not have many officially registered shelters. Most of them are unofficial. Some are run by individuals who keep many dogs in poor conditions. As for the number of stray dogs, I cannot give you a figure. I do not have accurate data.

That is why I started working with 12 Guards, and we have continued our work until now. We are still carrying out evacuations.

Jacobsen: Mr. Daniel “Dan” Fine: What condition did he have, and what happened?

Drahomaretska: When we first worked together, he did not know that he had cancer. He found out about a year and a half ago. He had felt very unwell during several missions. After returning to Canada, he went to the hospital and was diagnosed with cancer.

When he came to Ukraine, many foreigners who arrived did not want to do difficult work. They wanted dramatic photos—rescuing dogs with explosions in the background. They wanted stories to show when they returned home. But Dan did everything. He cleaned kennels, carried cages, and walked the dogs. No one wants to walk dogs because it doesn't make a good impression. He was someone who truly came to help.

Jacobsen: What would you consider his legacy after his death?

Drahomaretska: For me, he did a lot—for me personally, for the dogs, and for Ukrainians. First, he helped thousands of dogs. We sterilized around 8,000 dogs. Imagine that about 7,000 of them were females. A female dog can give birth twice a year, and each time she can have around five puppies. So imagine how many puppies were never born because of this program. That is a huge impact.

He also supported the shelter continuously. Because of his support and his organization, the shelter grew. He created a documentary film to show the world the work we are doing here, the problems animals face, and how we try to solve them. It was also about people—how some people, even during war, care about stray dogs and cats and not only about themselves.

Jacobsen: When you receive animals, what are the most common conditions? Is it malnutrition, missing limbs, or psychological trauma? What are animals most commonly suffering from in this war?

Drahomaretska: We have many dogs injured by shrapnel. Some are very thin. Most dogs—maybe 99 percent—have trauma similar to post-traumatic stress. They are afraid of loud sounds because of explosions.

The place where our shelter is located is far from the front line, so there are not many explosions there. Sometimes, when Russian forces attack the electricity system, you can hear distant explosions, but it is far from heavy bombing. The dogs need a calm place.

In the areas where we evacuate animals, there aren't many extremely emaciated dogs because even people who stay without enough food still try to feed their animals. But in places like Kostiantynivka, the situation is much worse. There is often no food, and volunteers cannot safely go there because there are many Russian drones. To drive there, you would need people in the pickup truck who can shoot down drones. Even evacuation vehicles like the White Angel police units often cannot go there because it is too dangerous. Sometimes they cannot even evacuate people.

Jacobsen: What else?

Drahomaretska: After Dan died, he had agreed with another organization, Greater Good Charities. This organization supports us now and believes in our work. They see what we are doing and how many animals we adopt. For example, at least 20 dogs leave our shelter each month to go to families. For a Ukrainian shelter, that is a large number, because many shelters keep dogs permanently. It becomes like a large animal enclosure. What we do is the result of our team's serious work.

Jacobsen: When animals become stray, e.g., dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and cattle, they can become feral. Dogs may attack cats. Pigs may scavenge human remains. What issues arise in war that people do not often discuss openly but are important to understand?

Drahomaretska: It is difficult to talk about, but our soldiers are very kind to animals. When they return from red zones, from active battle areas where we cannot go, they often bring back dogs and cats they have rescued. But sometimes they also have to kill animals. In some cases, stray dogs can spread rabies. In other cases, dogs gather around soldiers because they are looking for food. Russian drones can detect people when dogs gather in one place. Soldiers try to hide, but dogs can reveal their positions. In such situations, they sometimes have to kill the animals. It is about survival—strategic survival in war. They also slaughter pigs or livestock for food when necessary. These are survival decisions.

Another problem is abandonment. I do not know how it would be in other countries if war came there. In Ukraine, some people keep dogs on chains as guard animals. Not everyone, but some. Sometimes we arrive at a destroyed or evacuated house and find a dog still chained. We evacuate the dog. Later, an owner may contact us and ask why we took the dog, saying the dog was protecting the house. We ask where they are living now. They say they left because it was too dangerous. We ask why they left the dog behind. They say it was for protection. We ask who was feeding the dog. Sometimes they do not know. They ask us to return the dog to the dangerous area. It is difficult to understand this mindset.

Jacobsen: These details matter. War changes priorities. Even if people are not under immediate fire, they may be traumatized or hungry. Rational decision-making shifts. When it is minus 19 degrees Celsius, with no heating and no electricity, people focus on survival—finding warmth, food, and safety. Different considerations take priority. Preferably, food from Lviv Croissant.

Drahomaretska: They are good.

Jacobsen: Are there stories of people who have died while rescuing animals?

Drahomaretska: Yes. One volunteer died about two months ago. His name was Sviatoslav. He carried out many animal evacuations, but during his last mission, he was evacuating people. He was with Bohdan. A drone attacked their vehicle. The others survived, but he was killed.

Jacobsen: I interviewed Dr. Ioan Răzvan Șuteu. He is a Romanian veterinarian who rescues, treats, and rehomes injured animals affected by the war. He is currently in Romania. Animal rescue is humanitarian work. It is not political. When people think of humanitarian evacuation, they often imagine wounded soldiers or civilians being airlifted. This is different. It is about a starving dog, an injured animal, and choosing to help.

Drahomaretska: People who work in this field here, it is completely different. In other countries, for example, in Germany, animal protection organizations fight with paperwork. They do not work in war zones. They do not work in mined fields. They care about animals, but they do not know what this kind of work is like. It is very different.

Jacobsen: I used to work at a horse farm. People run ranches here. My immediate question was: how do you run a horse farm with bombs and air raid alarms? Horses are easily spooked. Even small noises can cause them to panic. Logistically, I have many questions. Even in normal conditions, managing horses is complex. I remember working on a farm with an indoor arena under a large structure. After heavy snow followed by warm weather, the snow would melt at the base and slide off suddenly. That noise alone could frighten the horses. That was just because of the weather. So how do you manage when there are ballistic missiles or air raid alarms? I am very curious about that.

Drahomaretska: I once had a situation in a village where we evacuated a horse. During that evacuation, the horse broke my finger. I went to the hospital afterward. Later, we found the owner. The owner returned the horse to the same dangerous place we had evacuated it from and left it there again. 

Jacobsen: You broke your finger for nothing. During that time, you could have been rescuing other animals. It was not only about that one horse. Are there more men or more women in animal rescue?

Drahomaretska: Mostly women. 

Jacobsen: Many men of working age are at the front line, have left the country, or have been killed. So women are taking on many roles, including animal rescue. Difficulties likely depend on where you are. Living in a village in western Ukraine is different from living in a city in the east. Those factors matter. Are you in a city or a village? Are you in the east or the west? That changes the level of stress. Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Khrystyna. 

Drahomaretska: Thank you very much for your time.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a blogger on Vocal with over 120 posts on the platform. He is the Founder and Publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978–1–0692343; 978–1–0673505) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369–6885). He writes for International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN, 0018–7399; Online: ISSN, 2163–3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), Humanist Perspectives (ISSN: 1719–6337), A Further Inquiry (SubStack), Vocal, Medium, The Good Men Project, The New Enlightenment Project, The Washington Outsider, rabble.ca, and other media. His bibliography index can be found via the Jacobsen Bankat In-Sight Publishing. He has served in national and international leadership roles within humanist and media organizations, held several academic fellowships, and currently serves on several boards. He is a member in good standing in numerous media organizations, including the Canadian Association of Journalists, PEN Canada (CRA: 88916 2541 RR0001), Reporters Without Borders (SIREN: 343 684 221/SIRET: 343 684 221 00041/EIN: 20–0708028), and others.