OUR MISSION

We are not an animal rescue but a fundraising and limited on-the-ground support network for rescue groups in Ukraine.  If you read OUR STORY, you will see that we were ordinary people living our ordinary lives, suddenly finding ourselves caught up, like so many others, in the shock of war that no one thought possible just a few months and a lifetime ago. It’s the story of two families, one American and one Ukrainian, profoundly tied together by our beloved Ukraine and decades of mutual love and loyalty. From the helplessness that we felt was born a great need to help in some way. When the first bombs began to fall that sad early morning in February, amidst the endless human suffering to come, we understood immediately the equally incomprehensible fate of the animals caught up in this senseless war, as the families they depended on are forced to flee for their lives. If you are also an animal lover, you could imagine if you had to suddenly run from your homes with them into an unknown darkness on a road that leads to an unknown place while explosions come from nowhere. 

Countless animals, who were once part of loving homes, are everywhere throughout the country, separated, lost or abandoned as ordinary people try to escape the Russian onslaught.  More and more, we are hearing stories of dogs who won't leave the dead bodies of their moms and dads, and every day, we are forced to imagine the unimaginable.  Refusing to remain complacent against such evil, we decided to do whatever we could to ease this little tip of the iceberg of such monumental misery. In Ukraine, we are able to directly and immediately disburse the money that we raise directly to the most urgent needs of the local rescues, as well as provide substantial on-the-ground support such as purchasing food, medicine, animal transport and rescues of animals in distress.   In California, we are solely devoted to raising money in any way we can to fulfill the most urgent needs of the local rescues, dollars and euros that go a long way in Ukraine. 

Our RUFF Ukraine team works primarily with the wonderful volunteers and staff at the MC Animal Protection Centre in Zhytomyr that serves as the main hub of support for smaller rescues in the Zhytomyr Oblast west of Kyiv. But RUFF Animal Rescue Fund, Inc. was created to help any individual or group helping the suffering animals of Ukraine. Of course, from the beginning, the need has been immense and without end.  They desperately needed food for their overflowing kennels, so we simply began by sending some money from the U.S. to Ukraine from our own pockets that was to enough to cover their immediate needs.  They were days away from running out of food, so we scoured the Zhytomyr region for all the food we could find and delivered it to grateful volunteers. We immediately began to receive urgent requests for medicine, travel crates, vital medications and flea control products, in addition to more food.  And this was the ordinary and extraordinary origins of RUFF UKRAINE, a true Ukrainian-American partnership.

Our mission is just this simple:  With every dollar or euro we raise, we will directly help on-the-ground rescues, tirelessly working in Ukraine, with whatever they need to keep their animals safe and healthy, and eventually get them adopted to loving homes...until Victory is won! GLORY TO UKRAINE!

ALL ANIMALS PRESENTED IN THIS WEBSITE ARE ACTUAL FURRY FRIENDS THAT R.U.F.F. ANIMAL RESCUE FUND IS FEEDING EVERYDAY IN THE SHELTERS AND STREETS OF ZHYTOMYR, UKRAINE…ALL THANKS TO YOUR KIND DONATION!