The plight of children caught in a war zone is driving local Ukrainians in their efforts to send relief back home.
Content warning: This story discusses graphic images
An arts centre in north Auckland's Orewa is combining a message about child victims of the Russian invasion with a fundraising auction.
The arts centre is running a grim photographic exhibition.
"It's pictures of children killed by Russia," Kateryna Samokisha, of the website Creative Ukrainians, said. "I can't cope reading these stories, it's just so hard."
Photographs of children, like 10-year-old Dmytro and eight-year-old Polina, are accompanied by written accounts of their lives.
This week the United Nations released a report saying 136 Ukrainian children had been killed by Russian forces in 2022, while more than 500 have been maimed.
"It's happening every day and it's just horrible," Samokisha said.
The exhibition includes an R18 area with particularly graphic images.
But the photographs also sit alongside a collection of art by local Ukrainians depicting more peaceful scenes. The works are being auctioned online, with proceeds going to the relief effort.
One print, by Australian-based Ukrainian Olena Levkivska, depicts two hands casting a shadow of a dove in flight, surrounded by Ukraine's national colours.
"We thought this would be the perfect image, obviously," Mar'yana Kozakevych, also of Creative Ukrainians, said.
The auction also includes one traditional woman's costume.
"Whenever we have cultural events, or whenever I'm volunteering at a market, I'll make sure that I wear the embroidered shirt," Kozakevych said.
At a warehouse in the Auckland suburb of Avondale, another group is collecting supplies to be shipped to Ukraine.
Like the first container load collected last year, it'll mainly be filled with medicines and clothing. But this time, there's an added element — soft toys for youngsters.
"A lot of kids in Ukraine are now without toys. They're without a childhood. So we decided to support them," one of the organisers Edward Patkevych said.
He said the toys are a response to families whose homes were destroyed by flooding after a dam in Kherson collapsed last month. Ukraine has accused Russia of sabotaging the dam.
Patkevych said the response was worldwide, "from New Zealand, from India, from China. They all help us".
The Avondale warehouse is storing the goods for free, and while 1News visited the site, we discovered that the warehouse manager was Russian, who Patkevych had known for 15 years.
"He's a friend," he said. "I have a lot of Russian friends here."
"It's a big hope for us that if we receive such big support, victory will be ours," he added.
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