After a month back in his home country, Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, touches down in Canberra on Sunday, ready to throw his support behind a local fundraiser to help children suffering in the ongoing war.
Russian invaded Ukraine almost two-and-a-half years ago, in February 2022, and since then atrocities have been committed including last month's bombing of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv.
Mr Myroshnychenko will be the guest of honour at a charity lunch in Canberra next month for the Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
The lunch, at the OTIS Dining Hall in Kingston, will be held at noon on Sunday, September 8.
The event is being supported by Rotary and the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations.
All funds raised from this event, including ticket sales, donations and auction proceeds, will be directed toward supporting Ukrainian children who have been severely impacted by the war.
Speaking on Friday from Poland, enroute to Canberra, Mr Myroshnychenko said he attended the annual meeting of Ukraine's heads of missions, in south-east Ukraine, 200km from the frontline this week. The meeting was also attended by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr Myroshnychenko said average Ukrainians were suffering.
"The problems are immense because we have over 7 million people who are internally displaced and I'm not mentioning the people who are now outside of the country - there are over 5 million of those who are outside of the country," he said.
"Those who are escaping the war from the eastern part of Ukraine, they're moving to other cities, and there's a lot of people who don't have any resources, they don't have any money. They're experiencing serious hardship. There's a big lack of food. Just basic medical support they need."
The country was experiencing regular blackouts due to Russians targeting energy assets.
Russian air strikes had taken out Ukranian energy infrastructure and the country had lost nine gigawatts of generation capacity, which was resulting in regular, co-ordinated blackouts "while the government tries to balance out the electricity in the grid".
"Now it's summer and there's still long days and it's still warm, but I think it will be a key issue as move into the autumn and winter," he said.
Mr Myroshnychenko said Ukranian children "were not having the childhood they were supposed to be having".
The bombing of the children's hospital had been a "heinous war crime".
A lot of schools were operating remotely but many children didn't have the technology to keep in touch with their school, he said.
Others were missing out on medical care.
The support of Canberrans through the September charity lunch was significant.
"It feels very uplifting," Mr Myroshnychenko said. "You know, Australia being so far away, 13,000km away from Ukraine, every time I attend a fundraiser, every time I see that support, especially from the grassroots level, I mean that gives me a lot of inspiration. And I really look forward to that fundraiser.
"Of course, I'm extremely grateful to the government of Australia for standing strong with Ukraine. As you know, the Australian government has provided more than $1.3 billion in military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine."
During his visit to Ukraine, "everybody is acknowledging and is aware of Australia's support".
"Ukraine is really fighting for its survival and we are deeply grateful for that," he said.
Mr Myroshnychenko said the war would end either through military means or through diplomatic efforts, which had been ongoing.
"We're hoping to hold another summit sometime soon in which we hope Russia will be participating," he said.
"At the end of the day, Russia understands strength and that strength will be demonstrated in a diplomatic forum where we have many, many countries [onboard]."
Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he could settle the war within 24 hours.
Could he?
"I cannot speculate on this of course. I definitely will work with any president elected to the United States, " Mr Myroshnychenko said.
"The United States is the No.1 supporter to Ukraine. It's in the national interests of the US to make sure that we win this war. If we don't, the implications, internationally, will be profound."
- The link to buy tickets to the September 8 charity lunch for the children of Ukraine is here.
