STORY: (Alina Volik) “You hear a siren sound three and four times a day. Russian invasion took the freedom from us.”(Marta Vasyuta) “So I decided to do this media war, as we call it.”(Alina Volik) “Because of TikTok, 14 million people have seen what it's like to live in Ukraine and what we feel.”As Russia invades Ukraine, some young social media users are experiencing the conflict from the front lines on TikTok.Ukrainian influencers uploaded videos of people crying in windowless bomb shelters, explosions blasting and missiles streaking across the country's cities.The conflict, which Russia calls a "special operation," is the latest example of the central role TikTok plays in bringing news to the Gen Z audience. The app has become so influential that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to "TikTokers" as a group that could help end the conflict.Some influencers, like 18-year-old Alina Volik, have answered the call.(Alina Volik) “During the first days of war, I wasn't even watching TikTok, and I didn’t think of posting videos there. But then I just realized that this is unreal. And I was watching news all day long. I couldn't leave my phone. And I decided to make my video and to show people what it's like to live in Ukraine.”“Those photos that I edited in my video like emergency backpack, sealed windows, I initially took these pictures for the memory and I wasn't going to post it. But then I collected it in one video, which has 14 million views right now on TikTok.”TikTok boasts 1 billion active monthly users.Its algorithm is known for serving trending content even if users do not follow certain people.It’s a feature that allows topics to quickly go viral.Other Ukrainian TikTokers have made it a mission to share information and spread awareness with Western audiences.One of them is 20-year-old Marta Vasyuta.Shortly before the start of the Russian invasion, Marta travelled to London. She hasn’t been able to go back to Ukraine since. SOT Marta: “When I posted this first video at the beginning, not even at the beginning, but a couple hours later it had like 20,000 views, which was really, really insane amount. And when it reached like 20 million views, I was like, that is the half of my country’s population.”Marta follows multiple Telegram channels to find news and videos.She says she exercises due diligence in verifying the images and videos before posting them.“There were some people that were even DMing me on Instagram saying that I share fake information, that it is Photoshopped, it is from Israel and Palestine, it is from other countries it is from 2013. And I am showing real information, I always put location, time and date on my videos so people can see it is real.”Researchers warn that false information about the conflict is now mixed in with authentic information and has spread widely on TikTok and other tech platforms.Alina says she’s been posting videos to combat misinformation in the Russian news.“I think the role of young people in this conflict is firstly to refute the Russian propaganda because the majority of Russians don't believe what is going on in Ukraine.”“I don't know what can be worse than the war in your country when you’re here and you’re observing how places where you were hanging out with your friends are now destroyed.”“Only my goals keep me going. I hope to receive this scholarship to study abroad. And actually I didn't expect to become noticed because of this terrific situation. I received 22,000 followers on Instagram. And of course, this is not how I wanted to become known. I really want to thank everyone who support us. I received a lot of messages on my Instagram of support Ukrainian people. And I really believe in a bright future of all Ukrainian people.”