The Russian invasion of Ukraine has taken a huge toll on Ukrainians. Millions have been forced from their homes, and tens of thousands have been killed. Cities and towns are destroyed beyond recognition. And as the people of Ukraine and the world try to make sense of a senseless war, some victims cannot do so. Wildlife, farm animals and house pets, unable to evacuate from nonstop barrages of Russian artillery, are also caught up in the conflict that is tearing apart everything familiar around them be it forest, farm or house.

A massive effort to rescue animals materialized as the war started and became a horrifying part of life in Ukraine. Thousands of animal rights activists, volunteers and other people found themselves in a position to lend a helping hand. Just as they did at the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2022, they wake up every day with a single mission to save another innocent being.

Asia Sepinska, 77, sits in the kitchen that doubles as her office surrounded by several dogs. Dogs are everywhere; there is a German shepherd napping on a chair across from her; others run in and out of the kitchen into a large space that used to be a dairy farm that now hosts cats, chickens and other animals. Some try to sit on her lap or at least put their heads on her knees.

This year, her shelter celebrated its 22nd birthday. It all started with Sepinskas visit to a government-run shelter in Borodyanka in 1999. The conditions there were so abhorrent and inhumane that they made a lasting impact on her.

It was absolutely terrible, she said. Dogs were standing in mud mixed with their own excrement and snow. They werent fed. They were not being looked after. She recalled that the workers at the Borodyanka shelter didnt seem to care for animals at all. Dogs were eating each other, killing each other it seemed to her that they were brought there to die, and in the most horrific way imaginable.