A 21-year-old Mount Maunganui man has chosen to ditch his personal travel plans to go to Ukraine instead, to give on-the-ground help to the country at war with Russia.

Liam Arnold, a swim teacher, has never volunteered before but after seeing the news about what the people of Ukraine are experiencing, he knew he wanted to show his support.

'It's pretty much just been on my mind since it started and people need help over there.

'I just feel like I'm in a position where I can actually probably help a little bit so I'm going to try and do that,” says Liam.

Researching and contacting different Ukrainian volunteer groups, Liam will be working alongside multiple organisations, including the charity, ‘Everything Will Be Fine'. He is currently raising funds for a passenger van to transport humanitarian aid supplies and evacuate Ukrainian civilians out of danger.

Liam says the Ukraine 'desperately needs drivers and vehicles” for this.

'I was initially saving just to travel overseas but I thought this was a better use of money,” says Liam, who has travelled to Argentina and Australia but has never been to Europe.

He has been learning Ukrainian language basics for the past two and a half months to prepare and has left his volunteer trip open ended.

'I'm looking at staying about three months but I haven't got a return ticket… I'll just see how it goes and it could be a bit shorter or it could be longer depending on the situation.

'As far as safety is concerned, at the moment I'm not too worried about that –obviously there's a risk but I think there's a risk with anything you know.”

On what his family and friends think of him heading to the country amidst war, Liam says there has been a mixed reaction of 'good on you” and 'that's quite crazy.”

'So mum's not too happy and my dad's kind of on the fence you know, he's not too pleased but also knows I'm trying to do something good,” says Liam.

Flying out on Thursday, July 21, Liam says: 'This is kind of a big step I guess from no volunteering –maybe it will be the start of more in the future… hopefully I can actually help.”

Liam is yet to reach his fundraising goal to buy a passenger van to support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. To donate visit: givealittle.co.nz and search for ‘Liam Arnold'.