Reports are emerging of African students trapped in Ukraine who say they are being discriminated against as they try to flee.
Insider and social media reports say that black people are being prevented from boarding trains and buses and are not allowed to cross into other countries.
Thousands of African students live in Ukranian to study medicine and other technical fields at affordable prices.
Korrine Sky, a student in Ukraine who helped coordinate escape routes for hundreds of African students trapped in the country, told Insider that some have struggled to get on buses heading to the border.
Some people have gone to get buses, but they aren't allowing Black people on the buses. They are focusing on Ukrainians. Sky said that is what they say.
A student from Africa wrote on the social networking site that the Ukrainian police and army were not allowing Africans to cross the border.
He shared a video that showed authorities threatening to shoot them.
—Nze (@nzekiev) February 27, 2022
We are at the border with Poland. They only allow Ukrainians to cross because the Police and Army refused to let Africans cross. Some people have slept here for 2 days, while others have gone back to their hometown.
He said that he and other Africans were removed from a train while trying to cross the border.
—Nze (@nzekiev) February 25, 2022
A group of black people, including a baby, are waiting in the open at the border fence in the dark.
Similar reports have been posted on the social networking site.
A Nigerian medical student said that Ukrainian border guards stopped Black people from crossing into Poland, and that they had to let Ukrainians through first.
—Stephanie Hegarty (@stephhegarty) February 26, 2022
—NaTHaN!! (@Kachi_Nate) February 25, 2022
Black people are not the only ones feeling discriminated against, as reports have emerged about Indian students in Ukraine facing similar issues at the border with Poland.
We have been standing in the open since midnight. The Ukrainian checkpost is not letting us through and other foreigners are allowed to leave.
—Mocking Monk 🇮🇳 (@SachinS45739081) February 26, 2022
Thousands of people have been trying to flee to central European nations since Russia invaded Ukraine.
More than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled their country in less than 48 hours, according to Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency.
Up to five million people could be displaced by the crisis, and Poland is preparing to take in up to one million people.
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