Olga Murka on Hospitails: Sustainable Funding and Mobile Veterinary Missions in Ukraine
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/03/28
Olga Murka is Press Secretary for Hospitails, the Hospitallers’ veterinary mission in Ukraine, which delivers sterilization, vaccination, and emergency care through a mobile hospital and evacuation bus. She shapes public-facing messaging that explains mission goals, documents field impact, and connects donors, volunteers, shelters, and clinics to frontline animal aid. Murka prioritizes sustainable institutional funding—especially from international organizations and foundations—so that operations are not dependent on small individual donations that may be diverted to urgent defence needs. Her communications highlight rescue outcomes, rabies risks, and the practical logistics behind each deployment. She also promotes stable teams of veterinarians and assistants for missions.
In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen speaks with Olga Murka, Press Secretary for Hospitails, about how communications support mobile veterinary missions in war-affected Ukraine. Murka says the priority is comprehensive: fundraising, public awareness, and recruitment, while policy influence is not the focus. She emphasizes shifting toward sustainable funding from international organizations and foundations. Murka outlines a typical mission: define the rescue goal, deploy a mobile vet bus, deliver sterilization, vaccination, antiparasitic care, and food, and evacuate animals when needed. Reporting with photos, videos, and rescue stories sustains partners, donors, and volunteers. Key allies include shelters, clinics, and a volunteer network.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the current focus of Hospitails’ communications: fundraising, policy influence, raising public awareness, or attracting new participants?
Olga Murka: Comprehensively, everything listed above except the second. Efforts are aimed at finding sources of sustainable funding that do not depend on donations from private individuals, which may instead be directed toward supporting and meeting the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (international organizations and international foundations).
Work with the public in the main areas, namely:
- • Raising awareness about assistance to animals from the frontline and de-occupied territories.
- • Drawing attention to the evacuation, treatment, sterilization, and vaccination of animals affected by the war.
- • Raising awareness about the increase in rabies and the uncontrolled growth of animal populations in frontline zones.
Undoubtedly, creating a team of doctors and assistants is necessary to carry out the core mission tasks.
Jacobsen: From a communications perspective, what is the outlook and logistics of a typical mission?
Murka: From a communications standpoint, a mission includes the following key elements:
- Preparation for the mission:
- Presenting a clear objective (who we are rescuing, who we are helping, and why).
- Drawing attention to the situation of animals in frontline regions.
Logistical component:
- Organizing the departure of a mobile veterinary bus and team.
- Providing on-site medical assistance (main emphasis on sterilization, vaccination against infectious diseases, antiparasitic treatments, and provision of food).
- In cases of evacuating individual animals — placement in shelters or finding foster/adoptive families.
- Communications component:
- Reporting on each mission with photos/videos to demonstrate real results and impact.
- Using rescue stories to motivate donors, partners, and volunteers.
Jacobsen: Which partnerships are most significant for your work: local shelters, international rescue organizations, municipal veterinarians, etc.?
Murka:
- International rescue organizations/donors.
- They help financially scale all projects and field missions, evacuations, and treatments, and provide funding for the purchase of consumables, protective equipment for animals, and food.
- Local shelters and veterinary clinics.
- They provide possible post-operative care (if necessary), continue working independently in this direction, assist with care after potential evacuations, and provide temporary housing for animals.
- A broad network of volunteers in various regions.
- This is a critically important partnership network for rapid response and on-the-ground support for our missions and activities.
Jacobsen: What is the biggest limitation for scaling the project today?
Murka:
- Financial resources and logistics.
- Projects of this scale require stable funding for vehicle repairs, fuel for field trips, equipment, veterinary supplies, and all essential provisions during missions.
- Volunteer and staffing resources.
- Qualified veterinary professionals, drivers, and people who love animals and are ready to help are needed.
- Security in combat zones/access to hotspots.
- This significantly affects the ability to deploy missions. The constant expansion of combat areas and the increased use of drone surveillance often make it physically impossible to carry out sterilization missions in areas close to active fighting zones.
- Partnership networks and reception infrastructure.
- More shelters are needed to expand mission capacity and conduct more frequent evacuation trips.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Olga.
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