Causes We Care About

Ukraine's Animals Are Still in the War. Here's How to Actually Help.

Years after the invasion began, Ukrainian shelters are still stretched thin. The most useful thing you can send is money, to the right groups. Here's how to give well.

By James Okafor, Rescue & Advocacy Writer

April 26, 2026 · 5 min read

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The images that first broke everyone’s heart, families crossing borders with a cat carrier in one hand and a leash in the other, faded from the news long ago. The need did not. Years after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine’s animal shelters are still operating under conditions no rescue is built for: shattered supply chains, power cuts, staff who have fled or been called up, and thousands of animals whose people could not take them.

If you have wanted to help but felt paralyzed by distance and scale, here is the honest, useful version of what to do.

Send money, not stuff

The instinct to box up dog food and blankets and ship them to Kyiv is generous and, unfortunately, close to useless. International shipping into an active-conflict country is slow, expensive, and unreliable, and the organizations on the ground can buy supplies faster and cheaper closer to home when they have cash. A dollar sent to a Ukrainian group stretches much further than a dollar’s worth of kibble sent through a war zone. So the single most effective thing you can do is give money to a group that is already inside the country doing the work.

Give to groups that are actually on the ground

A handful of Ukrainian and international organizations have kept working through the war and have public donation channels. These are the ones with the clearest track record:

Happy Paw is a Ukrainian nonprofit that has spent years supporting stray dogs and cats, and since the invasion it has coordinated food, medicine, and supplies to a large network of shelters across the country. Its donation page accepts contributions toward food, veterinary care, and generator fuel. happypaw.ua/en

UAnimals began as an animal-protection advocacy group and pivoted hard into wartime logistics, purchasing and delivering food to shelters, zoos, and wildlife centers whose supplies ran dry. uanimals.org

Sirius operates one of the country’s biggest shelters, in the Kyiv region, caring for thousands of dogs and cats, and has leaned on donations to keep them fed through the hardest stretches of the war. dogcat.com.ua

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is the option for anyone who would rather route a gift through a large, internationally audited charity. IFAW has funded animal relief in Ukraine and neighboring countries, sourcing supplies regionally and supporting local partners. ifaw.org

How to vet any animal charity before you give

You do not have to take a stranger’s word for which groups are legitimate, and you should not. Before you donate to any organization, Ukrainian or otherwise, run a quick check:

Look for a working website with a clear, specific description of what the money buys, food, veterinary care, transport, and recent updates or photos of the work.
Prefer an established organization over a brand-new fundraiser that appeared this week, and be wary of appeals that route to a personal payment app rather than an organization’s own donation page.
For U.S.-based nonprofits, confirm the group on a charity evaluator or the IRS tax-exempt search; for foreign groups, look for coverage by reputable outlets and partnerships with known international organizations.
Give directly through the organization’s official site rather than a link forwarded in a viral post.

A minute of checking protects your money and makes sure it reaches the animals it is meant for.

Help closer to home, too

If cross-border giving feels too abstract, the war has a local echo worth supporting. Neighboring countries absorbed enormous numbers of refugees and their pets, and border-region shelters and veterinary clinics stepped in to house, feed, and treat animals that arrived with nothing. Groups coordinating that regional response also take donations. And the plainest truth of all: the shelters in your own city are stretched, too. Fostering, adopting, or donating locally does not help Ukraine directly, but it honors the same instinct, and it is help that never gets lost in transit.

The war took a lot from the animals of Ukraine and the people who love them. What it did not take was the ability of people far away to send something real. Send money, send it to a group that is actually there, and check before you click.