Beside the horror of the catastrophe unleashed by the unhinged Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the people of Ukraine, now with more than 4 million refugees fleeing to Poland, Romania, Turkey, anywhere, while cities burn and unknown thousands of people are dead or dying in the ruins, there is another disaster being wreaked on the animals of Ukraine.

Herve Breuil, the shelter director at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, is currently working the roads from Kyiv to the Polish border to help shelter pets from a bombed out facility.

Many of the animals are being ferried across to Germany by German PETA, while Breuil and others make determined efforts to find owners of these cats and dogs and reunite them with their families.

It has been a notable sight in all the awful video we’ve seen of people scrambling across destroyed bridges or lining up at the border, ladies with pet cats tucked inside their coats, or carrying small dogs. Often there are children with the dogs, determined to bring their animal friends with them into whatever their new lives will contain.

Meanwhile in the ruins left behind, there are many more abandoned dogs, cats and other pet animals. For their families, this is another heart-rending consequence of Putin’s war.

Breuil said, “I am from France and to me, the current events happening in Ukraine are happening in my backyard.” Driven by the visions of the horror, Breuil added, “I wanted to travel to Ukraine to help my European brothers and sisters and help them reunite with their companion animals during this terrifying time.”

With a solid 10 years under his belt of directing the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, Breuil knew he had skills to offer in this situation. “I could not just stay here and watch — I knew I had to go to Ukraine.”

Breuil plans to return to New York in the first week of April. The Sanctuary asked for funds to support Breuil’s travel costs, an estimated $1,900, and raised nearly $10,000. Woodstock Farm Sanctuary plans to donate the extra funds raised to Ukrainian organizations in need, including Shelter Ugolyok and Shelter Happy Animals.