Another Journey to the Front

In June, Dana returned once more to the troubling front lines of Ukraine. I’ve tried here to retell her latest journey across the border as she shared it with us…

The air back in Ukraine carried the same tension as always—nervousness, insecurity, and the expectation that everything could become very bad in a second. Dana and Ruslan’s mission was routine by now: move quickly, stay alert, and rescue as many animals as possible, and take them to safety.

For them, these recurring trips together are forged by necessity and purpose. They’ve made this dangerous drive so many times now that the rhythm of it almost feels normal. As they weave through military checkpoints and battered roads, conversations drift between risk, tactics, and the hope that this time, maybe, they’ll find fewer animals in need. Or at least fewer with severe, life-altering injuries.

But these routine trips can pack a lot of unpredictable moments. What looks like just another animal rescue mission is anything but ordinary. For Dana and Ruslan, this repetition is what allows them to keep moving forward, to keep saving lives when the world around them is falling apart—because rescuing these innocent animals, again and again, for them, is a refusal to let cruelty and chaos become normal.

And so, each journey—no matter how familiar—reminds them why they return: because every animal, every life, is worth saving.

A Kitten in the Frontlines

Though familiar, every one of these missions is unique. This time, a kitten found on the frontlines captured their hearts, and the hearts of military men and women exhausted from battle.

Dana and Ruslan found the kitten on the outskirts of a shelled-out village. He couldn’t have been more than eight weeks old, with black-grayish fur and wide, unblinking eyes that seemed to question everything. He was hiding amongst the wreckage, his fur dusted with ash, but his spirit unbroken. Dana carried him into the van, where he nestled into her lap, playfully trying to grab Dana’s hands, as Ruslan drove off in a hurry.

Along the way, they checked the kitty and treated him for dehydration, then left him in good hands with local Ukrainian military who were more than happy to take him in. Ruslan and Dana still had a lot of ground to cover and many more animals to rescue—taking the kitty would’ve been too much of a risk. By the time the two of them pulled away, the kitty was already feeling at home in the arms of his new companions, enjoying the attention.

There are no small rescues in a war zone. Every life saved returns hope back into a landscape torn by violence. And each van full of displaced and injured animals always reminds Dana and Ruslan what it means to choose compassion over fear.

Sometimes, as Dana returns to her home in Romania from the battered villages of war-ravaged Ukraine, she wonders how many more trips lie ahead. How many times will she and Ruslan risk their lives making these journeys? Will the war end soon, or will these cross-border rescue missions become an indefinite part of her life? Each time she sets out, she hopes it might be the last, that peace will return, and her work will no longer be needed—at least not due to human-made conflicts.

But with every new mission, the uncertainty grows heavier, a reminder that for now, there’s no clear end in sight and many animals still need her and Ruslan’s help.