Opinion: San Diegans Should Know that Animals Also Suffer the Horror of Russia’s War in Ukraine

“Andrea and Paquito” is a popular TikTok account of a woman and her cat, who quietly purrs while sleeping with her in bed during calm mornings, only to open his eyes suddenly if he senses a bird outside, and then goes back to sleep.

On the other hand, during a late night in June 2023, a Ukrainian woman filmed herself with her cat, but there were no birds flying and chirping, but rather aircraft and missiles exploding during a Russian air raid on an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih. During the attack the cat’s green eyes are wide open, enduring “animal shell shock.”

The owner is not in bed, but in a bathroom, the safest place to survive an air raid as it is away from potential windows breaking. She hugs her cat dearly amidst deafening explosions. This video demonstrates that both animals, humans and cats, can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The House of Ukraine is organizing Paws for Ukraine, dog walk and festival, on Saturday, Nov. 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Liberty Station/NTC Park.  It is a fitting time to reflect on how animals in Ukraine have been affected by the fighting that intensified in Ukraine since February 2022.

Collectively they are victims of what we term “animal-based violence,” meted out by one animal, humans, against other animals, dogs and cats, whether inadvertently or deliberately.

At the same time, domestic animals, pets are key to Ukrainian’s ontological security, the mental state derived from a sense of order and continuity of everyday life.

A place to start are the shattered streets of Maria Marchenko’s city of Ohtyrka, on the frontlines in February 2022, which were filled with silent witnesses to war, domestic animals seeking refuge among the ruins of their once cozy homes.

These animals, having lost their owners, wandered in search of warmth and safety. Their eyes spoke volumes, reflecting fear, loss, and a yearning for a better life. On the streets, dog paws tread on broken sidewalks strewn with debris and shattered glass. The gaze of cats reflects what they have seen and endured.

Maria’s parents, who stayed in the city during the first days of the February 2022 invasion, took care of strays abandoned by people fleeing the war, providing them with food, water and warmth. Soon those who remained in Okhtyrka joined groups to help strays, creating small shelters and providing medical assistance, a spontaneous Red Cross for animals.

Cats and dogs returned the favor. Sensitive to changes in the auditory environment, they became not only companions but also living detectors of danger. They meowed and whimpered, warning of approaching bombardments and helping people find shelter in safe places.

When the bombs arrived, Maria’s mother, like the woman in the viral video, embraced her fluffy cat, a faithful companion that turned her anxiety to calm. This symbiotic relationship between humans and animals has emerged as genuine therapy on the psychological front of the war. Discovering the meaning of non-verbal communication and emotional connection with animals, the people in Ohtyrka found solace in the most challenging times.

Thus, animals not only survived during the war in Ohtyrka — they became soul healers, helping to overcome pain and fear, soothing and uplifting spirits on the frontline of war, where heroism and survival go hand in hand.

During the failed 2022 assault on the capital, invading soldiers in retreat from the Kyiv region left behind executed cattle, horses, and goats. We wrote about a half-breed corgi with shrapnel wounds could not even drink water because it spilled through a wound in his neck. It surely suffers from its actual wounds and mental ones. Killing or maiming support animals like these, pets, is an act of psychological warfare.

We had been on the lecture circuit on the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine war in February 2024, and it was only the story of this corgi that gained the attention of audiences in America, getting students fixated on their smart phones to look up and acknowledge the tragedy that has unfolded since 2022.

Tragically, George Packer of The Atlantic writes, “War has nothing to do with the world they (animals) inhabit. In their consciousness, it has no meaning, not even the meaning of evil.”

The problem is that animals are excluded from treaties governing warfare like the Geneva and Hague conventions. International Cat and Dog days are a reminder that animal welfare should be included in international humanitarian law, that the “human” in “humanitarian” should refer to acting “humanely” to both humans and animals as citizens and civilians.

Human health and animal health, in wartime and peacetime, are a continuum. Both will need each other to overcome PTSD. Second, dogs and cats are victims of war, just like the Ukrainians or any people who suffer due to decisions made by politicians who will never be held accountable for their actions.

Malcom Gladwell in The Bomber Mafia writes, “It turns out that people were a lot tougher and more resilient than anyone expected. And it also turns out that maybe if you bomb another country day in and day out it doesn’t make the people you’re bombing give up and lose faith.”

We seek to give a voice to the animals without a voice, a micro-history of what they have endured. What these animals have endured is just part of the greater history of the “victims of war,” the soldiers or civilians with PTSD, and now animals.

Gladwell concludes, “More than a million buildings were damaged or destroyed. And it didn’t work!” Our message to the readers, is that the Blitz did not break the morale of the British people, nor will it break that of the Ukrainians and their animal companions.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi is an associate professor of history at Cal State San Marcos and a visiting scholar at University of San Diego and San Diego State University. Maria Marchenko is an independent writer and researcher in Kyiv.