ANDRIY Boyko isn't going to stand idle while lives in his home country of Ukraine are blown apart.
As a 38-year-old doctor, who works as a medical officer for the Newcastle Knights, feeling helpless doesn't often come with the territory.
"The beginning was the most difficult because there were a lot of emotions, helplessness was one of them with such an atrocity going on and not being able to do anything," he said.
"It's very difficult, you run out of emotions and you go a little bit numb."
So, he chose to act, using his personal connections to find out what kind of aid is needed most and establishing a supply chain to help Ukrainians caught in the Russian conflict crisis.
This week he will travel to the Ukrainian border to deliver essential medical and humanitarian supplies to hospitals and aid organisations in the war-torn country.
It started with a conversation with an ambassador to the Ukraine, Dr Boyko said.
"He said that if I have contacts I can trust, that's gold for them," he said.
"I know the people and culture and how things work, the difficult part was sourcing and funding the things they need - not so much distributing it."
Since then his circle has grown, working with two non-government organisations in Germany and Ukraine - where civilians and expats work together.
So far he has raised more than $98,000 through crowdfunding - and has already sent a shipment with equipment for managing orthopaedic injuries, advanced first aid care, wounds and trauma-related injuries.
And, he hasn't been untouched by the tragedy, his cousin spent three weeks in a bomb shelter until she could escape to central Ukraine.
"It's worrying, you worry about them and the difficulty of the situation, the other half of my family in central Ukraine didn't leave," he said.
"It's a gamble, you risk being exposed to conflict and war, but if you go in the middle of winter you're exposed to the elements and the unknown with food and water shortages."
He said every little bit helps send the message to Ukraine that it hasn't been forgotten.
"It feels good, it sounds like a selfish thing to say that and it's hard to take praise or feel good about something like this because I'm very lucky that I can," he said.
