After the scandal with the military and service dog, Ukrzaliznytsia made an important decision

Ukrzaliznytsia, the national carrier of goods and passengers, together with the all-Ukrainian humanitarian movement UAnimals, will develop updated rules for the transportation of animals on trains. This step was taken after citizens were outraged by the situation when a National Guard officer with a service dog was forced to travel for about three hours in the vestibule of an Intercity car.

At the time, UZ explained that it was due to the rules requiring passengers to buy an entire compartment for large animals. Now, on Instagram, the movement has stated that the rules should be changed, but Ukrainians continued to be outraged, saying that it is "not about laws, but about humanity."

"This week, a story about National Guard officer Valeriy and his service Labrador, Ermi, who were traveling in the vestibule of the Intercity from Kyiv to Chernihiv, was shared online. Commenting on this story, UAnimals referred to the fact that, according to the rules, animals taller than 45 centimeters at the withers cannot be transported in Intercity," the humanitarian movement said in a statement.

They noted that such a rule is in effect not because of a conditional danger, but because of the lack of space in passenger luggage compartments and discomfort for the animals themselves. They also added that the National Guard said that the soldier "voluntarily stood in the vestibule because he did not want to break the rules," and allegedly did not have time to wait for a compartment car to travel with the labrador.

"UAnimals was mentioned in posts about this story more than a thousand times. Of course, we immediately paid attention to it. But instead of making loud public statements, we decided to first meet with representatives of Ukrzaliznytsia and discuss our common vision and possible actions," the organization explained.

It is noted that there will be no memorandums on this topic, the representatives will immediately get down to business. In particular, Ukrainians were promised that together with UZ they will:

1. Update some outdated items of train travel rules to make them more inclusive for people with animals.

2. Organize a social campaign to urge passengers without animals to treat passengers with animals more humanely.

"The rules are there to be followed, but sometimes realities make it necessary to revise the rules. We are glad that Ukrzaliznytsia supports this. We will inform you about the next steps in this story," the animal rights activists added.

In the comments under this post, Ukrainians thanked for the quick response to the incident. At the same time, there were those who continued to be outraged that such situations on UZ trains occurred at all.

"I don't know, when we bought the tickets (I was with my dog), we were told that we had to buy the whole compartment + a ticket for the dog + a carrier + a special certificate for the transportation of the dog. We were a little shocked, of course", "This is not about the law, which they like to hide behind when necessary, or about the rules, this is about human rot", "What are the rules for a service dog? They remembered the law... But they didn't give me any money for the dog!!! There are no words", "The National Guard added that he voluntarily stood in the vestibule with the dog" Are you serious? The post is trash," people reacted online.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, a sexist scandal broke out in Lviv, where a conductor did not let a female soldier on the train until a man got on first. UZ representatives apologized to the woman for the incident and assured her that they adhere to the principle of passenger equality.

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