Rescued Cats From Ukraine Await Warm Welcome At Dulles Airport

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — Homeward Trails Animal Rescue is preparing for the arrival of 24 cats rescued in Ukraine after they lost their homes due to Russia’s military invasion of the country.

The two dozen cats are scheduled to arrive at Dulles International Airport Wednesday and Thursday and will join eight other cats that arrived last week with Homeward Trails Executive Director Sue Bell.

“Having just gotten to know all these kitties while we were in Ukraine caring for them and learning of their harrowing rescue stories, we are just so glad to be able to welcome them here and get to work in securing loving homes for them,” Bell said in a statement.

Homeward Trails has found foster homes for all the cats coming from Ukraine while the cats wait to move into their forever homes. All the cats have been added to the "adopt" part of the Homeward Trails website and will be ready for adoption once they arrive and get a check-up.

As part of its effort to find new homes for cats in Ukraine, Homeward Trails is partnering with Breaking the Chains, a U.K.-based nonprofit operating in Ukraine that provides evacuations and care for animal victims of war.

Bell and longtime Homeward Trails volunteer Shana Aufenkamp spent two weeks volunteering at an animal shelter in Ukraine run by Breaking the Chains.

“To know that some of these animals have barely survived the harsh cruelty of this war and to know they now face months and maybe years in a shelter is just heartbreaking,” Aufenkamp said. “We put it out to our donors to seek their support to make a difference for these kitties and they stepped up. So the choice to go back and help and then bring these kitties over was an easy one.”

While at the shelter, Bell and Aufenkamp filled out the paperwork required to take animals out of Ukraine. Getting the cats out of Ukraine by van and into Romania and then to the airport took up to 16 hours, according to Homeward Trails.

The cats that will be arriving have varied stories, including being rescued from bombed-out buildings and animal shelters to being given up by owners who had to flee the country, unsure if they would return.

The cats will arrive on two KLM flights at Dulles on Wednesday and Thursday at about 3:45 p.m. and then will head to the Homeward Trails adoption center in Fairfax Station for intake.

"The Ukraine shelter will now have space to immediately bring more cats off the streets just in time for winter," Bell said in a statement. "It will not save them all, but it will indeed save lives. And these lucky kitties arriving will get loving, indoor homes in time for the holidays."

The public can visit this Homeward Trails website to donate money to help transport abandoned cats out of Ukraine. Another website has been set up to help feed animals in Ukraine this winter. The delivery of all food and supplies will be coordinated through Breaking the Chains.

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