People are scrambling to do what they can amid the shock of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Mountains of donations for Ukrainian refugees filled a Huyton warehouse after an appeal co-ordinated by non-profit organisation Polskie Merseyside, which is based in County Road in Walton.
Others are finding their own way to help the effort, often online.
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English teacher Tania Melnyk, 45, woke up on February 24 to a text from her brother in Kyiv saying Putin has attacked.
Tania said: "We never thought it would come to this case. We never thought that it will be a full-scale war."
She "freaked out" and got "so stressed [she] couldn't move", worrying about her friends and family in a country she left a month before when people still visited coffee shops and sushi bars.
Her mum can't walk, so she stays put with Tania's brother and dad in their third-floor flat, instead of running up and down to the basement to avoid Russian missiles targeting the capital city.
A friend in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, has no electricity much of the time and can only tell Tania's she survived the latest round of Russian bombardment when she's able to charge her phone.
Checking on friends and family, and sharing information about the war, keeps Tania calm when she'd otherwise be "rushing around like a headless chicken".
Before the war, she used Instagram to teach English to her mostly Russian followers. Now, she mixes that with information about the war.
Tania told the ECHO: "My goal is to enlighten and educate. If I come out and say, 'You are bla bla bla bla', that's not going to work.
"'Softly, softly, catchee monkey' - that is my motto these days. This is what I'm doing. I'm just explaining what's going on.
"I'm not giving any opinions. I'm just explaining what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and all that in the context of teaching people English."
She added: "Many Russian people feel like they are being despised and hated, and they feel scared as well, so I'm trying to create an atmosphere where people just get the information."
Her account is smaller compared to others, with one friend losing 1,000 followers in a few days compared to her losing five or six over her nearly 1,500 followers.
In one Instagram reel, Tania taught the difference between 'breathe' and 'breath' by playing on the idea of telling Vladimir Putin not to hold his breath for victory, without ever mentioning the Russian president.
Despite the risk of arrest, many Russians, including the children of oligarchs, spoke out against the war since it was launched.
An estimated three million Ukrainian citizens lived in Russia in 2018, and even more people of Russian background live in Ukraine, leaving many stuck physically and politically.
This gets even harder as moods around the conflict take on xenophobic tones, with Tania even getting slack for spelling her name the Russian way.
Tania said: "I see my students who follow me, but unless I contact them, they watch my stories every day, but they don't write to me. I think they just don't know what to say.
"Very close people have not been in touch because they are Russian, even if of Ukrainian origin.
"I think people are digesting what's happening, what's happened, and they just need to find the words, and they don't want to get a portion of negativity because people are scared."
Social media is a powerful tool for spreading information about the war, the humanitarian efforts, and the atrocities committed.
But many images going viral are from separate conflicts years ago, and Tania is aware of the responsibility resting on her shoulders every time she shares content.
She said: "All the videos, on the one hand, it's good because they keep you in the loop. On the other hand, you never know is it true? Can you trust it?"
One thing Tania does know is that she longs for the peace she left behind.
Tania said: "Ukraine has its problems, but overall, people were just leading a normal life, recovering from covid and going back to normal."
