Campaigner relives the 'explosions and air raid sirens' she heard on her animal mercy mission to Ukraine

A North East woman has relived the horrors of her mercy mission to Ukraine when she heard explosions and air raid sirens and saw abandoned pets in desperate need of help.

Washington woman Vijay Kritzinger , who works in Newcastle, has just got home from working on a mobile animal clinic for the NOWZAD organisation.

After a week-long mission, Vijay is back with lots to tell. She told the Sunderland Echo: “To see hundreds of dogs and cats, suffering as a result of the bombings, the devastation.... leaves me speechless.”

One dog, she said, had been shot and was paralysed.

She was part of a small team working mainly in Kyiv but also in rural areas, Zhytomyr, Hostomel and Borodyanka.

“In Borodyanka, we converted a room in a community centre into a vet clinic as there were no other suitable spaces to work in. You can actually see items in the background in my photos, belonging to people displaced by the war.

“We had to carry gallons of water as there was no running water, people depend on wells in the rural areas and Borodyanka got hit hard when the war broke out - it's impact s evident by the piles of rubble where loved homes once stood. My heart is still not fully whole after the experience.”

Vijay added: “In Lviv there is a massive cemetery with thousands of Ukraine flags marking the fallen men and women, mainly young people.... a can of red bull, a favourite scarf, little cupcake, a favourite jumper and things these lives once enjoyed - now, a stark, sad reminder of one's mortality - and the injustice of a genocide caused by crazy leaders.

“ A few people there chose to stay behind to help the abandoned pets and strays, dipping into their meagre savings to help them whilst trying to survive themselves. People who thought the war would not last, hoping to return home to their cats or dogs, but never made it back.”

Vijay spent time at the Hostomel shelter which holds around 500 dogs and 200 cats, and said ‘a drone struck and hit a building not long before we were there. Whilst we were busy at this same shelter, we heard two explosions and the air raid sirens.... the dogs went crazy!

“We carried on working - there's not much else you can do especially as Russian attacks are so random and there is a dog opened up on the operating table.

“Coming home was surreal - to come from a country where it's people live in fear and uncertainty, to a home I love but am frustrated by how much our community takes for granted at times. We have beautiful beaches and woodlands, despite many volunteers' efforts, plagued by litter, huge problems with our own rescue centres overflowing due to people not sterilising or due to animal abuse, veterans and animals traumatised by loud fireworks and yet.... we are not in a war.”

Vijay is a huge backer of causes in the North East. She is a support group leader with North East Animals Asia which organises the Big Bear beach cleans in Sunderland and South Tyneside.