More than 300 dogs found dead in Ukrainian shelter after weeks without food or water due to the war, charity says

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As reports of atrocities amass in Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Russia of genocide, disturbing footage has emerged on social media that appears to show piles of dead dogs at an animal shelter in Borodyanka, Ukraine.

According to the charity UAnimals, the shelter's 485 dogs remained locked in their cages from the beginning of the war in late February until the beginning of April, when Russian soldiers left Borodyanka and charity volunteers were able to return to the shelter. During that time, the dogs were left without any food or water, the charity said. By the time the volunteers finally gained access to the building on April 1, all but 150 of the 485 animals had died.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, tweeted a video in which the bodies of numerous dogs can be seen on the floor. The female volunteer filming the video narrates the scene through tears.

I have no words. Russians even killed dozens of dogs in Kyiv region. WHY??#RussiansWarCrimes pic.twitter.com/tvotxGUThs — Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina) April 3, 2022

Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko posted a separate video from the Borodyanka shelter on Telegram, in which dogs can be seen barking at volunteers as they step around the bloodied carcass of a dog who had died.

Sadly, this shelter is one of many forced to go without management or supplies, due to the Russian occupation of Ukraine. In early March, several volunteers were killed while attempting to bring dog food to starving abandoned animals in another shelter outside Kyiv.

According to UAnimals, volunteers have now fed the dogs that survived weeks without food or water in the Borodyanka shelter, and transferred 27 of the animals in the gravest condition to private clinics for treatment. And while volunteers have thus far only been able to pick up what UAnimals describes as the heaviest surviving dogs, the charity is offering 50,000 hryvnias — approximately $1,700 — as a reward for anyone willing and able to take the others.