Valeria Shashenok, 20, recently fled to Italy from her home city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, which is currently under siege by the Russian armed forces.

Ms Shashenok began posting videos about the Russia-Ukraine war to TikTok on February 27 and has since gained millions of views and 956,000 followers on the platform.

The photographer showed a typical day in a bomb shelter in Chernihiv with her parents in her most popular video, which has 43.6 million views on TikTok.

In the video, Ms Shashenok played with her dog, cooked with her mother, and left the shelter to retrieve some belongings from her home - passing bombed buildings on the way.

Ms Shashnok's videos also have satirical edge such as a suggestion that Vareniki dumplings are best served with "sour cream or Putin's blood" or a reference to pretending a punching bag is the Russian President.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Despite being surrounded by death and destruction, the TikToker's videos ultimately show that life goes on for those living among war.

For example, Ms Shashenok celebrated after she found the last avocado in a supermarket that had been stripped bare in another video - a small victory in a dire situation.

After weeks in besieged Chernihiv, Ms Shashenok was evacuated via train to Warsaw, Poland last week, where she was greeted by volunteers and free food.

Unfortunately, Ms Shashenok's parents were not able to leave and remained in the bunker.

The photographer then travelled through Germany to reach Milan, Italy, where she is staying with a local family.