How Ukraine’s pet food maker built a global network of care

Ukrainian company Kormotech has been producing cat and dog food for over 20 years. Our mission is to care for animal well-being and make their lives better. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, we couldn’t stay on the sidelines. At first, we provided food for animals and helped volunteers evacuate them from active war zones. But as the number of requests and needs grew, we realised we needed additional resources.

In the spring of 2022, we founded the U-Hearts Foundation to gather international support and direct it to Ukrainian shelters, animal protection organisations and volunteers. The foundation operates independently, but from the start we based its workflows on Kormotech’s business processes.

This allows full control over the entire chain – from collecting needs to delivering aid to the final beneficiaries. We created a resilient system capable of operating without interruption and scaling assistance even in times of crisis.

In the first weeks of the invasion, train stations were overcrowded. Thousands of people waited for evacuation trains, trying to escape Russian shelling. Yet Ukrainians thought not only about their own safety but also about saving their pets. Alongside volunteers assisting people, animal welfare activists worked at the stations, handing out kits to pet owners containing pet food, water, a bowl and a toy.

This aid came from Greater Good Charities, an American non-profit that supports animals in humanitarian crises. They were among the first to contact Kormotech, offering assistance and entrusting us with coordinating its distribution.

“Don’t try to evoke sympathy; instead, demonstrate that, even under challenging circumstances, you continue to help those who need it most”

This trust didn’t happen by chance. In Ukraine, we had already implemented more than ten large-scale projects aimed at improving the welfare of cats and dogs, many of them involving international partners. Our efforts to rescue animals began in 2014, when Russia occupied territories in the east of the country.

From the moment we founded the U-Hearts Foundation, we understood that the need to help animals would continue to grow. So we set a clear goal from the start: to make this support systematic and long-term. To achieve that, we needed to build the institutional capacity of the foundation – something that wouldn’t be possible if we relied solely on existing partners.

Over time, some might stop providing aid, which is natural as priorities and resources shift. That’s why continuously seeking new contacts is essential for sustainable development.

In November 2022, when the western bank of the southern city of Kherson was liberated from Russian occupation, animal welfare volunteers were among the first to arrive. We immediately began sending them everything they needed and searched for the resources that were still lacking. Because we were able to engage partners quickly, animals received aid exactly when they needed it most.

Our established collaboration with animal welfare organisations helped us respond quickly. Since they communicated their needs directly to us, we could efficiently match them with the capacities of each partner and reach out with a clear, well-defined request. This gave our partners a practical way to help, with measurable impact.

In the spring of 2022, the world’s attention was firmly fixed on Ukraine. Companies and charitable organisations sought ways to help and often initiated their own humanitarian projects. After more than three years of war, that attention has naturally waned. People grow weary of constant exposure to distressing news, a phenomenon known as “compassion fatigue”.

It’s essential to keep reminding both current and potential partners that their support is still needed. Yet the focus should not only be on the problems caused by the crisis but also on the progress and achievements made along the way.

International donors tend to trust organisations with well-established workflows that operate with business-level precision, conduct regular needs analysis and maintain transparent reporting. We’ve implemented all of this at U-Hearts Foundation and noticed an interesting effect: organisations that wish to support animals in Ukraine often direct their aid through our foundation because they know we are a reliable institution capable of executing large-scale projects.

Don’t try to evoke sympathy; instead, demonstrate that, even under challenging circumstances, you continue to help those who need it most, and share the tangible results of your past initiatives. This approach gives partners a sense of shared mission and shows that their support will have a meaningful, lasting impact.