Project Cossack Helps in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine is not over yet. It has been going on for almost a year and the humanitarian crisis deteriorates at an alarming speed.

The war continues and every day the situation is getting worse.

But, it is not only humans who have been affected by the tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine. The war does not select the dead or injured by age, gender or any other parameters. This applies to humans, horses and other animals. The conflict places horses in the middle and the Russians have caused significant damage to Ukrainian equestrian sports, killing many majestic, intelligent and beautiful animals - and without cause.

Before the war, there were about 100,000 horses in Ukraine, but the current numbers aren’t known. Many have been displaced, others were killed in Russian attacks, some died from hunger or injuries, some were lost, or stolen by Russians. Tens of thousands struggle to survive.

The number of stressed and injured horses has strained the veterinary medical supply chain, too.

“The most frequently mentioned problem remains the shortage of medicines,” comments Olga Bondar, Deputy Director of Kyiv Hippodrome. “Horses in Ukraine need a lot of help with basic veterinary medicine. This medicine is quickly used due to the poor condition of the horses and the need for help stays sharp. It is also connected with the fact that horse owners are losing their jobs and income. This directly affects horses’ welfare.”

“We live in a mode of daily air raid sirens and stubbornly do our jobs,” She added.

In these critical moments, the lack of medicines and medical equipment for horse welfare is the main challenge for saving the horse’s life.

The Only Way Out

In addition to delivering these much-needed veterinary medicines to Kyiv, we will make the most of our journey by traveling to the front lines to help with the evacuation of people. To escape the worst-hit areas of the war, the most vulnerable Ukrainians are reliant on volunteers using any vehicles they can find to ferry people to safety.

It is among the most dangerous jobs in the world: playing a cat-and-mouse game with artillery fire to retrieve vulnerable civilians from the devastation that is the east of Ukraine.

We have a very brave friend, Dmytro Omelchenko (“Dima”), who spends his time doing just that. He started by using his parent’s family sedan until it was full of holes from shrapnel and bullets and, ultimately, destroyed by driving over a land mine whilst evading an incoming missile.

That didn’t stop Dima and he’s continued on through a few more vehicles.

The need for vehicles on the front lines is beyond our comprehension. The roads have been destroyed which, in turn, destroys the suspension and tyres of the vehicles as they race into, and out (hopefully) of the war zone. Others are destroyed by explosions, bullets and missiles.

We are preparing a Nissan Pathfinder to take from Ireland to Dima in Dnipro. The journey is 3,083 kilometres which will take three days of driving (assuming no problems en route). After we unload the cargo for the horses, we will continue on to deliver the truck.

We will have used some of the cargo area for warm clothes and other supplies that Dima asked for when he wrote to me the other night. The brutal Ukrainian winter is taking its toll and he is sleeping in his winter jacket and hat “under seven layers of blankets because they had no electricity, heating or water”.

We are working in association with Brendan Holland of Breeze Up Consignors Association in Ireland to help in these difficult times and impossible conditions but we need your help. We also want to thank the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners, The Irish Stablestaff Association, The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, and The Irish Racehorse Trainers Association for their support in getting our message out.

We need to raise €20,000.00 and we need to raise the money urgently. Every day more people and horses are suffering. Please help us to help Olga and Dima to rescue and care for the vulnerable. We need to make this first delivery at the end of this month and it takes time to get everything together.

We will send a travel Vlog to contributors via e-mail and Twitter so you can follow our progress. We will DM contributors to arrange contact for the Vlog.

Please donate what you can as soon as you can. Please tell your friends and relatives (and neighbours) and ask them to get involved.

With money from donations, we will purchase veterinary medical supplies, finalise ruggedisation of the Pathfinder and travel to deliver these much-needed lifesaving items.

We are very pleased to be working with David Skelly & Company (Carrick on Suir) as Supervising Accountants for our GoFundMe campaign.

NOTE: David Skelly & Company are listed as "Beneficiary" by GoFundMe. For the avoidance of doubt, they are acting as TRUSTEE of the Ultimate Beneficiaries (Olga Bondar of Kyiv Hippodrome and Dmytro Omelchenko) and upon completion of the campaign all funds will go to the Project Cossack Client Account and the funds are distributed as described.