After six years in Ukraine, Ayoub, a 25-year-old Moroccan pharmacy student, had built a life he was proud of in Kharkiv, a city in the country’s northeast. He learned the Russian language, which is widely spoken in the city of 1.4 million, studied Ukrainian culture, and made friends from around the world. He was due to graduate in three months, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced him to flee the country, and exposed him to a level of racism he had not previously experienced. In Lviv, a city 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Polish frontier, it became clear to Ayoub that he, along with other non-white international students, would be stopped by Ukrainian guards from leaving the country.
“No one helped us to leave or coordinated anything, we were just left on our own,” said Deborah, a 19-year-old student from northern Nigeria. “My friends went to the Polish border and were treated awfully by the Ukrainian guards. It wasn’t just Black people like me; it was anyone who wasn’t white,” she added. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted allegations of discrimination by border guards and said it operated on a “first come, first served approach” that “applies to all nationalities” with priority given to women, children, and elderly people in accordance with international humanitarian law.
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