Kyiv Independent launches the Companion Collection 🐾 to support front-line animal rescue

The Kyiv Independent’s new Companion Collection 🐾 brings together matching items for people and their pets while supporting animals rescued from Ukraine’s front-line communities.

For three weeks, from Oct. 1 to Oct. 22, all profits from the Companion Collection🐾 will go to 12 Vartovykh, a Ukrainian charity that evacuates animals from dangerous areas, provides veterinary care and rehabilitation, and helps them find loving homes.

The collection is available for purchase on the Kyiv Independent’s store.

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has left thousands of animals stranded in communities near the front lines. When residents are forced to evacuate, taking pets or farm animals with them is often difficult or impossible. Sometimes, animals are left behind when their owners flee, while others are injured, sick, or simply have nowhere to go.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, 12 Vartovykh has worked in dangerous areas across eastern and southern Ukraine to rescue animals and evacuate families with their pets. Over the past four years, the organization has helped more than 28,000 animals.

The charity also coordinated animal rescues following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam by the Russian forces in June 2023, when flooding affected towns and villages across Kherson Oblast. More than 2,500 animals were rescued that month alone.

The team continues to work close to the front line. In January 2025, it evacuated around 100 animals and two people from a farm in Udachne, Donetsk Oblast. The organization also runs regular sterilization missions for stray animals, reaching around 10,000 animals each year.

"We rescue every living thing," says Lala Tarapakina, founder of 12 Vartovykh. "People. Farm animals — we've had it all: horses, cows, donkeys, countless goats, even poultry. Wild animals — fox cubs, swans, and endangered birds. And, of course, pets — cats and dogs."

The collection features illustrations by Oliana Moroz, a Ukrainian contemporary artist from Donetsk Oblast. Her home is now one of the many places from which 12 Vartovykh rescues abandoned animals.

The Companion Collection 🐾 comes in matching pairs, one half for you and one for your companion: matching T-shirts for dogs and their humans, a matching key ring and pet tag for cats and dogs, and a blanket big enough to keep a person and their animal warm.

This collection is one of the many charitable initiatives organized by the Kyiv Independent. We’re thankful to our community, who always stands with Ukraine: whether it’s helping the elderly during harsh winters amid Russian attacks on the energy system, or giving a photojournalist a new chance at walking with an electric prosthetic knee after sustaining an injury in a Russian drone attack. Consider joining our community of people who care.