Early on the morning of 24 February, the anxious peace of greater Kyiv was shattered by the sound of explosions. Car alarms pierced the sleepy silence.
In footage of a live stream of the capital's Maidan Square, distant booms could later be heard, mixed with the sound of the song House of the Rising Sun echoing across empty streets from loudspeakers somewhere nearby.
Eight decades after World War II, a modern European capital was facing direct attack. Soon, population centres across the country of 44 million people were aflame with Russian Federation missile and artillery strikes.
Heavily damaged residential buildings in Irpin, Ukraine, on 2 April. Credit: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
He followed the news each day and attended an anti-war rally in his home city.
"I remember going to a major rally supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian people in Melbourne soon after the invasion, coming home and having those stories, that emotion, the pain, weighing on me, " he says.
"Lots of people were talking about what to do and I knew I had to do something."
But supporting his fellow Ukrainians from afar wasn't enough.
Nick Janiw (right) and the chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Stefan Romaniw.
He's now in Lviv, Ukraine.
He's been keeping SBS News updated with how he is getting on and posting video diaries on his social media pages.
Source: Facebook / Nick Janiw
“Packing up a life doesn't happen easily but it was about a week and a half from making that decision to landing here."
He has said having open-heart surgery two years ago changed his perspective on what matters in the world.
A girl from Lviv sleeping in her grandmother's arms at the railway station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on 3 April. Credit: WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images
He's also founded a group on social media - Global Ukrainian Social Support Service - to help protect vulnerable Ukrainian women from becoming victims of human trafficking.
The van Nick bought.
“It's enough that they are fleeing conflict, let alone being potential victims of trafficking. It helps prevent that from happening."
In Lviv, he's been donating his time and money to food and clothing relief projects to help those who are displaced.
Nick is part of a growing number of Australian volunteers who are joining others from across the world to help the millions of Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter in neighbouring countries.
Polish Australian Basia Roslaniec, who lives in Warsaw, has opened up her home to women and children who have become refugees due to the conflict.
She has also been sharing her journey by posting videos on social media.
Basia opened up her home in Poland to Ukrainian refugees.
"We currently have got about 25 people here that we are housing. Most of them are children."
“We have had over 50 people — half of those people went to Norway, we had some people actually going to Australia."
A young boy eating something nervously looks over his shoulder to where Basia is speaking and smiles.
Ukrainian refugee children's artworks are displayed in an integration club at the Galicja Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland, on 4 April. Credit: SOPA Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Under Australian law, people cannot engage in hostile activities overseas unless serving in the armed forces of a foreign country.
The government's latest advice on its Smartraveller website for Australians looking to travel to Ukraine is "do not travel". For Poland, it advises "exercise a high degree of caution".
"Australian Government officials have been deployed to eastern Poland (Rzeszów) and Moldova to provide consular assistance to Australians leaving Ukraine," a recent post on the website reads.
"You're responsible for your own safety and that of your family. The Australian Government will not be able to evacuate you from Ukraine."
But Basia and Nick are not alone in wanting to help the relief efforts. Australia's Ukrainian population is also banding together.
The Chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Stefan Romaniw, estimates estimate as many as 1,400 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Australia.
"We have Ukraine crisis appeal which has raised about $2.5 million there and we've sent our first medical shipment off to Ukraine last week and they'll continue to do that over the next few weeks."
"We have 20 airline pallets ready to go ... This is just the beginning."
For Nick, he's tired but determined.
"Too many women and children are scared to leave the war," he writes in one of his recent social media posts.
"The word needs to get out, they have options."
