The city of Lysychansk in Ukraine has fallen to the Russians. Three team members have been captured and are in prison!

We have received terrible news!

Three team members working with our partner Vetmarket Pluriton have been captured by the Russian army and are being held in prison in Lysychansk. They were en route to deliver NFA dog food to starving animals in the city, which was under heavy attack. Unfortunately, they were captured moments before reaching their final destination.

We are not allowed to tell you who they are, only that there are two people who identify as men and one person who identifies as a woman. These brave people had driven to the war-torn city to deliver NFA dog food and try to evacuate hundreds of dogs from the heavily bombarded region. Lysychansk was under heavy attack and fell to Russian forces as they tried to save dogs and cats.

The team knew they were running a big risk but the situation in Lysychansk was so bad they felt that they had to try. Food supplies had almost run out.

The situation is dire, dogs have nothing at all to eat, and have resorted to eating the corpses of other dogs who were killed in the war, died of disease, or starved to death.

The news of animal welfare volunteers being captured by soldiers and thrown into prison to face an unknown fate is horrifying, but it only stiffens our resolve to help.

The dogs need us, we will go to their aid, Russian soldiers or not. We cannot stand by knowing that dogs face the choice of death or cannibalism. We need your help!

We will be in Ukraine for the animals until the war is over, please be with us until this nightmare is over. Your donations make a massive difference to the survival chances of countless dogs and cats.

We have been doing everything possible to provide aid to animals in these dangerous and heavily affected areas. On one mission alone, under challenging and frankly terrifying circumstances, we provided a ton of fuel for emergency animal rescue missions and three tons of food to feed ravenous animals.

Before they were captured, our team had managed to evacuate 50 animals - 25 dogs and 25 cats - from the area and was on its way back for more when disaster struck. We do not have many details; we know the three were interrogated, their cell phones confiscated, and that they are imprisoned. Lysychansk is now under complete Russian control, but we will fight for the team’s release. Ukraine Update: Imprisoned Vetmarket Volunteers Released

There seems to be no end in sight to this war - or to the devastation the animals are experiencing. The situation becomes more dangerous with each minute that passes. Eyes may be drifting from the crisis in Ukraine, but we can tell you that the situation for animals there is worse than it has ever been.

The tragedy is not over - even if the world’s attention has moved on. We know just how very bad it is there, and we know that we MUST continue our feeding missions and wherever possible, evacuations. Please help us to do this. Our goal is to feed as many animals as we can, as often as we can, and to evacuate all of those we can.

We must keep getting animals out of these treacherous war zones where, with every passing day, they risk dying in bomb blasts, starving to death, or being forced to eat the bodies of their friends. As animal lovers, we cannot bear to think of the scale of their suffering, and we know we must do everything we possibly can do to help.

Our team is ready to go back and is already planning and continuing to rescue animals despite massive challenges. For the remaining Vetmaket team, the work does not stop. Our teams receive hundreds of requests for help with food and evacuations across Ukraine and are now down three team members, but that won’t stop us.

While you read this, preparations are being made to help more desperate animals in areas under attack.

Your donation right now can help us to get starving animals’ food that may literally save their
lives - and fund our missions to continue evacuating as many of them to safety as we can.
Please, we cannot do it without you.

For the animals,

Brian and Gloria Davies (and Max and Flora!)
Founders
Network for Animals

P.S. We applaud the bravery of our captured animal lovers - they are people like you who really love animals and care enough to help them. Even in the face of such a high risk of danger, all our teams want is to see suffering animals being taken to safety. This is putting the animals first and this is one of Network for Animals' pillars. We will continue to be there for the animals of Ukraine. Can we count on you to do the same?

Image credits: Banner image: Reuters/Radio Free Europe; images 1-4: Vetmarket