Africans say Ukrainian authorities have prevented them from fleeing

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In the years before the Russian invasion, Poland had taken a firm stance on migrants trying to enter the country. The army and border guards have pushed asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa back to Belarus. Last week, humanitarian organizations reported that a 26-year-old man from Yemen froze to death on the border.

Some of the foreigners arriving in Poland from Ukraine in the last few days have been exhausted and frozen, according to local humanitarian organizations. Some were taken directly to hospitals for their injuries.

Understand Russia’s attack on Ukraine

Map 1 of 7What is the basis of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine in its natural sphere of influence and is concerned about Ukraine’s proximity to the West and the prospect of the country joining NATO or the European Union. Although Ukraine is not part of either, it receives financial and military assistance from the United States and Europe.

Are these tensions just beginning? Antagonism between the two nations has been rampant since 2014, when Russian troops crossed into Ukrainian territory after an uprising in Ukraine replaced their Russian-friendly president with a pro-Western government. Russia then annexed Crimea and inspired a separatist movement in the east. A ceasefire was agreed in 2015, but fighting continues.

How did Ukraine respond? On February 23, Ukraine declared a 30-day state of emergency as cyberattacks shattered government institutions. After the attacks began, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared martial law. The foreign minister called the attacks a “full-scale invasion” and called on the world to “stop Putin”.

Ahmed Haboubi, a 22-year-old French-Tunisian medical student, said all foreign nationals, including Africans, Israelis, Canadians and Americans, were told to go to a gate at the Medyka checkpoint from Ukraine to Poland, which would only handle four people every few hours, while Ukrainians were allowed to pass freely through another gate.

“The Ukrainian army beat me so much that I could not walk properly,” he said in a telephone interview. “When I finally managed to enter Poland, the Polish authorities took me straight to the hospital,” he added.

“It was absolute chaos. They behaved like animals. There are still thousands of people stranded there. “

He said Poland welcomed him warmly.

Denis Nana Apia Nkansa, a Ghanaian medical student, said he saw the same discrimination when moving from Ukraine to the Romanian city of Siret – one rule for Ukrainians and another for everyone else. Thousands of foreigners, including Zambians, Namibians, Moroccans, Indians and Pakistanis, were directed to one gate, which was largely closed, while another, reserved for Ukrainians, was open and people passed through.

In about three hours, four or five foreigners were allowed to leave while there was a “mass influx” of crossing Ukrainians, he said. “It’s not fair,” he said, “but we realized they had to take care of their people first.”