Historians have come to regard the Crimean War as the first war which could arguably belong to the modern technological era. British and French orders were relayed via telegraph lines, rifles were mass-produced and moved on railways, and war correspondence, especially surrounding Florence Nightingale, was delivered to a concerned people on the other side of the continent. In the ongoing Ukraine War, it is hard not to see that we are again witnessing a revolution in the way foreign citizens are able to engage with and support both the war effort and the countless victims it produces.

In early April this year, Amir Khan, British Olympian and two-time World Boxing Champion, launched the Ukraine appeal of the Amir Khan Foundation. He did this to raise funds for the 7 million stranded families fleeing the war, and the 7.4 million displaced internationally, working in partnership with the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements.

The launch formed part of a wider phenomenon: leading public figures, including sports stars, actors and celebrities stepping up to lead the voluntary sector in dealing with humanitarian emergencies. At that time, Khan decried that families lacked access to such basic necessities as water, food and healthcare. Ukraine’s almost half-million Muslims, he stressed, were struggling to observe the Islamic holy month under such circumstances, while her children faced …