President of the SOS International Animal Protection Society Tamara Tarnawska said she is disappointed that Ukraine is doing nothing to settle the problems of stray animals.

"Today, assessing the past 20 years, I understand my naivety," she said at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday on the occasion of 20th anniversary of SOS's activities, and 16th anniversary of the home for stray animals in Pyrohovo.

"I thought that the authorities simply didn't know what to do and we just had to tell them, help them, and this problem would be resolved. But I was deeply mistaken. The authorities aren't solving this problem not because they don’t know how to do it, but because a group of officials are just lining their pockets."

Tarnawska said the Ukrainian authorities had ignored numerous appeals from representatives of the Ukrainian elite, citizens of the Western Europe and Ukraine, who have called for an immediate halt to the killing of stray animals.

"I spent seven years pushing for the adoption of a law on protection of animals, but it isn’t being implemented," the animal protector said.

Ukraine signed Convention on Protection of Animals in 2011 under insistence of public organizations of Ukraine, and ratified it in 2013, but this isn't being implemented either, she said.

According to Tarnawska, a movement of so-called dog-hunters, which came from Russia, is another problem of inhumane treatment of stray animals in Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities shield this movement, since it helps to clear residential areas of the stray animals, she said.

"The difference between Ukrainian and European society is that Ukrainian society isn't tolerant - it is aggressive, spiteful, as it just runs wild in this life," she said.