Watching on television or reading the news, most of us have felt impacted by the horror of the war raging in Ukraine.
But Elswick Councillor Nicu Ion is among those who've seen the devastation wrought by the Russian invasion firsthand. He told ChronicleLive that entering the war-torn country is an experience he'll never forget.
Over the past few weeks, thousands of essential items have been collected in the North East to help those dispossessed by the conflict. Coun Ion is one of the volunteers who've undertaken the difficult journey to get the goods to those who need them.
Read more: The incredible work of Newcastle volunteers getting vital help to Ukraine
The councillor described queues of desperate people standing for hours in "freezing" temperatures waiting to cross the border to Romania; seeing cars abandoned by those forced to cross on foot, and the heartbreak of families separated in their attempts to flee. And once he and his team entered Ukraine itself, the journey became even more harrowing.
Coun Ion said: "Once you cross the border, you are entering a war zone. You can see barricades made of sacks of sand, with the army or civilians with guns around them. They are were very suspicious of everyone, we were stopped by the army - it feels very tense, very unstable. You can feel the tension, the streets usually are quite empty.
"Once we got to the drop-off location we had people helping us unload and they asked us 'where do you come from?'. When we said the UK they were so impressed, they started to cry, saying 'did you really come all this way?'.
"We told them we had come to let them know that they are not alone in this. They said 'when this is over we are waiting for you to come back and celebrate with us', it was very emotional.
"It's overwhelming, the human tragedy. It affects you - you try to send a positive message, to help them to stay positive, but after that experience we feel like we haven't done enough, like we have to do more, but there's only so much you can do."
Whilst many donations are being sent to help dispossessed people who've crossed into neighbouring countries, Coun Ion and his fellow volunteers were determined to get their goods into Ukraine, to help the many people who've been unable to leave the country.
Delivering their supplies to a red cross base on the other side of the border they came across many families enduring immense hardship but determined to stay in Ukraine because the men in their family were not allowed to leave, having been ordered to take part in the struggle against Russia.
"We met families of refugees who were staying on the border, they didn't cross because they didn't want to separate," he said.
"A lot of them had nothing - one woman came up to our van asking if we had anything, we asked what she needed and it was just a few nappies for her baby. That was heartbreaking to see, all she wanted was a few nappies, what is a few nappies to us?"
The Newcastle team were delivering supplies to parts of West Ukraine, an area that, at the beginning of the invasion, was safer than cities closer to Russia. Thousands who fled their homes came to cities like Lviv, putting a huge strain on resources there.
With these formerly safer areas now becoming targets for Russian attacks, Coun Ion said life for those in the West of Ukraine has become impossibly difficult. Nonetheless, he said, there was a sense of solidarity and support as people tried to help each other.
He said: "They were very anxious, very depressed, they were trying to understand why this is happening but they couldn't find any explanations. They had normal lives until just a few weeks ago and then everything started to fall to pieces.
"It is very hard on them, but they are still willing to take refugees from other parts of the country and help them."
