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The daily struggle to maintain some semblance of normality amid ongoing attacks has been apparent to the team of volunteers who have this week taken medical supplies to Ukraine.
The group includes Guernsey resident Ezra Machnikowski who has driven an ambulance from London to the war-torn country.
He's part of a team which delivered six ambulances all full of medical supplies to a hospital in Lviv - a city in the west of Ukraine - and to the capital Kyiv.
The first two ambulances were delivered to Lviv on Tuesday with the remaining four being taken into Kyiv on Wednesday.
Pictured: Ezra Machnikowski drove an ambulance from London to Ukraine this week. Each ambulance in the convoy was filled with medical and health care essentials.
After delivering the two ambulances, filled with medical equipment, to the Multidisciplinary Clinical Hospital of Emergency and Intensive Care in Lviv and then four more to an aid depot on the outskirts of Kyiv, he said lessons learnt on this trip will be used to plan the next.
"Our volunteer group will now be thinking about lessons learned for our next convoy mission. We have exceeded our fundraising target for this convoy and the excess will be used for the next convoy," he said.
Since arriving in Kyiv on Wednesday, before starting their journey home, the volunteers also had some time to relax as best they could in a country being attacked by Russian forces.
The war started just over a year ago, but Mr Machnikowski said people living there are still trying to carry on with their normal lives, refusing to give in to the terrorism and aggression they are facing daily.
Pictured: Ezra Machnikowski and his fellow volunteers found some time to relax when they had arrived in Kyiv after four days of driving across Europe.
Mr Machnikowski confirmed that he and his fellow volunteers are "all ok" in Kyiv but added that "this morning’s (Thursday's) attack on central Kyiv and other places throughout Ukraine is a reminder why we help Ukraine".
He explained that they have not been directly affected by the most recent attacks but the war dominates every aspect of life in Ukraine.
"We’re not witnesses to the explosions," he explained, "but we are just monitoring the news channels here to be aware of what’s happening around us.
"I went to the Kyiv opera yesterday evening with a couple of fellow volunteers," he continued, "and we joined in the daily struggle to maintain an air of normality despite the terrorism and aggression of the Russian State."
Pictured: Ezra Machnikowski said people in Ukraine are living their lives as normally as they can. He and his fellow volunteers had a trip to the opera while in Kyiv.
Mr Machnikowski will be returning to his own family in Guernsey shortly but is already planning to make another trip to Ukraine supported by fundraising locally and further afield.
Money has been raised through gofundme and by personal donations by the volunteers themselves.
Mr Machnikowski's child is a pupil at Blanchelande College and the school raised money for the ambulance mission on Monday and is planning further fundraising activities too.
To donate to Medical Life Lines Ukraine through the charity Harrop HR Missions Ltd visit gofundme.com/convoy23
The hospital in Lviv, helped by volunteers
Ambulance convoy heading for Ukraine
24 people from Ukraine granted visas to remain in Guernsey
Ukraine charity thanks Guernsey
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