29 Apr 2026
Charity is raising a £50,000 emergency fund to sustain ‘Operation Kramatorsk’.
Chris Simpson
Job Title
Nowzad is evacuating vulnerable animals away from the front line in Ukraine.
An animal rescue charity has launched a daring emergency operation to evacuate endangered animals from the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.
Nowzad is relocating animals from the city of Kramatorsk, less than five miles from the advancing Russian line, to Smila, a riverside town in the Cherkasy region of central Ukraine.
A team from Nowzad – founder, chief executive and former marine Paul “Pen” Farthing, chief veterinary advisor Lachlan Campbell and vet tech Angela Stoop – made their first successful rescue trip to Smila on Monday (27 April), with further round-trips planned in the coming weeks.
The journey from Kramatorsk to Smila – previously an eight-hour drive – is now described as a 12-hour “gruelling logistical challenge” navigating roads damaged by heavy military machinery and checkpoint congestion.
The Nowzad team have been vaccinating animals across Ukraine against rabies, cases of which have been rising due to the war.
The charity is working alongside local volunteers in Kramatorsk to save animals in rescue centres and foster family homes across the city, including the Drooh Animal Shelter, where Nowzad supporters previously funded new kennels and repaired perimeter fencing destroyed by a Russian missile strike in 2023.
It is said that animals left behind are at serious risk of being shot on-site by invading forces if the city falls.
Mr Farthing said: “We don’t just see numbers; we see family members. The bond between these people and their animals is often the only thing keeping them grounded in all this chaos.
“As I’ve said before, leaving them behind was never an option. We are doing everything humanly possible to ensure no animal is left to face that fate.”
The charity has launched an emergency fund to raise £50,000 to sustain the evacuation, which will fund the trips between Kramatorsk and Smila and the erection of temporary kennelling for the influx of arrivals.
In 2021, Nowzad successfully evacuated 67 people and 162 cats and dogs from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Mr Farthing added: “We did it in Afghanistan with Operation Ark in 2021; we are doing it now in Ukraine.
“If the tide turns and Kramatorsk remains safe, we will bring them home. But we can’t and won’t just sit back and wait to find out this time.”
Donations can be made at the charity’s website.