Readers, a commentary on managing your money seems ridiculously superfluous given what the Ukraine and her people are enduring minute by minute, day by day – not knowing the end result.

The ongoing horrendous deadly assault on humanity — there is no other word for it — on the independent country of Ukraine, has riveted the world’s attention. At the time of writing, this unprovoked war on Ukraine triggered by the Russian state was horrifically still being furiously fought.

This event (a terribly vague word that neither describes the depth of destruction or the mechanics behind it) can only be described as the most massive of deadly intent by another country and its leader.

More than one million residents had fled Ukraine already by Thursday afternoon.

We’ve visually seen the hour-to-hour documentation — vulnerable children and adults in mass exits to safety leaving behind determined men and women to defend their way of life — in agonising clarity on social media, their raw emotions exposed for the world to see up close and personal.

And for those freedom fighters committed to democracy, the future is still uncertain as according to Bloomberg quoting a European intelligence officer, “there are reports that the Russians are planning public executions, and repressive detentions of all protestors, if they succeed in this horrendous, unprovoked attack on an independent country”.

The worldwide support for the Ukrainian people has ramped up overwhelmingly, while just about every method possible is being employed by diplomats, corporations, concerned individuals and countries: stopping fund flows, employing sanctions, lobbying governments, the UN and Nato, sending aid, and even, recently, thousands of non-Ukrainians volunteering to defend the country alongside Ukraine citizens.

Ukraine and her people, and others like it before, and hope that never again afterwards, have to be in enormous distress: jobs uprooted, homes inhabitable, personal records possibly unrecoverable, businesses closed /defunct, government, banking and finance institutions operating in emergency mode, human rights put aside, fear of the conflict itself, with friends and relatives lost for ever defending the nation. The results of emotional trauma such that everyday life will carry that memory burden for a very long time.

Even then, at some point, the necessity of resuming some form of practical moving forward will take place at some point — the world hopes soon. Survivors will need everything, starting with the basics: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, jobs, healthcare, a permanent place to live, reconnections with family and friends and emotionally, hope, most of all hope, to return to the life they were forced from involuntarily by figurative and literal weaponry.

We, most of us who have never experienced invasion, war, and its aftermath, cannot even begin to comprehend how an entire nation of 43 million people will start over.

Could we even begin to cope with similar extreme conditions?

There are many organisations whose mission is to support victims of war, armed conflict, poverty, and natural disasters.

Bermuda Red Cross has launched an appeal for the Ukraine victims.

Donations can be made by direct deposit into the charity’s Butterfield bank account, 20 006 060 663859 200.

The public can also go online here to donate by debit or credit card.

The charity will also take card details at 236-8253, Monday through Friday, between 8.30am and 4pm.

Donations can be made in person or by post to the office at the Bermuda Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal, 9 Berry Hill Road, Paget DV03.

• Martha Harris Myron, a native Bermudian with US connections, is a former qualified international financial planner, the author of The Bermuda Islander Financial Planning Primers, international financial consultant to the Olderhood Group Bermuda Ltd., and promoter of financial literacy