Saturday, February 24, marked an anniversary that Olenka Motyka never wanted to commemorate.
Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine in a globally condemned incursion that has killed more than 10,000 civilians and injured almost 20,000 others, Ms Motyka found herself on an edge torn between hope and despair.
"It is really hard when you are personally connected to an area of the world where there is conflict - when you have family there when it is in the forefront of your mind - then to deal with the fact that we live in an era of multiple political conflicts," she said. "It shouldn't have to be."
Ms Motyka organised a modest vigil at New Lambton at the weekend, attended by around 45 of Newcastle's Ukrainian community, to reflect on the past two years, remember those lost, and try to regather the pieces.
"I didn't want to have to be marking two years," she said. "But two years on, and the war is still going. I felt that it needed to be marked and acknowledged, that we needed to remind people that this is still going on, and to thank all those who have worked for peace."
Those who observed the vigil at New Lambton Uniting Church lit candles in memory of those lost and heard from community leaders coordinating the efforts to raise local support and funds for relief in Ukraine.
Father Edward Waters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Parish in Newcastle offered a sermon that mourned the continuing violence and the sad sense that the conflict in Ukraine had been stacked against multiple unfolding violent conflicts abroad.
Father Waters recalled a conversation in which he was asked whether the war in Ukraine was "still going" and said, "this is the sad context that we are faced with as the war begins this third year".
"We should never forget and never let others forget the cost of this war, to human life, to human joy, to the Ukrainian nation and land," he said.
Ms Motyka, who founded the Ukrainians in Newcastle and the Hunter Facebook group to help connect refugees and those fleeing the violence in the region to community services, said it was easy to lose hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable turmoil.
"The fact that these conflicts need to compete for society's attention is tragic; it's tragic that they are happening at all," she said. "We wish for peace everywhere - not just in Ukraine.
"If people are unaware of what others are doing locally, you can easily lose hope and fall into despair. But I think these opportunities to gather together as a community and see the stories of hope ... make people walk away with renewed hope and renewed energy to continue in their own small ways."
Ms Motyka created her group online when the war broke out, and she was at home in the Hunter expecting her youngest child. The Hunter Ukrainian community is small, but she sees every effort it made towards effecting peace as vital.
"Ukrainians are incredibly stoic and incredibly resilient," she said. "Our national anthem talks about surviving and striving for freedom. Above all else, we will overcome. And so I think by coming together, it reminds us of that character of the Ukrainian people that even though our community here in Newcastle isn't as large as the ones in Sydney, in Brisbane, in Melbourne, in Perth, our efforts still can help.
"If we can help one life in Ukraine, if we can help house one family in Ukraine, if we can provide potable water for one family, then that's one more family that has been helped that otherwise couldn't have been if not for our efforts."
The local vigil coincided with broader commemorations at the weekend as the war stretched into its third year. Demonstrators gathered outside the Russian embassy in Canberra on Saturday, alongside other protests around the country, joined by Independent Senator David Pocock and ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said two years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Australia was unwavering in support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"Australia remains steadfast in supporting Ukraine to defend itself and to holding those responsible for Russia's illegal and immoral invasion to account," the minister said in a statement on Saturday.
Senator Wong also announced financial sanctions, travel bans on 55 people, and financial sanctions on 37 entities.
Meanwhile, Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Canada's Justin Trudeau, Belgium's Alexander De Croo and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine on Saturday. It comes as $61 billion in aid promised by US President Joe Biden is being blocked by Republicans in Congress, casting a long shadow over Kyiv's hopes of pushing back the much larger, better-supplied Russian military.
On the ground, Ukrainian forces say they've downed a Russian early warning and control aircraft - a significant win for the country as its army fights to repel Russian attacks along the front line, according to reporting by AAP.
If the downing of the precious Russian air asset is confirmed, it will serve as a considerable morale boost for Ukraine after the loss of Avdiivka, a strategic eastern city. It was captured by Russian forces last weekend after a ferocious four-month battle in which they brought to bear their significant battlefield advantage in men, aircraft and artillery.
Kyiv officials have pleaded with Ukraine's Western partners to accelerate the delivery of military aid so its forces can hold out against the onslaught. The front line, running more than 1000km across eastern and southern Ukraine, has mostly stayed the same in the run-up to the war's second anniversary.
With reporting by AAP.
