Kenyan medical student Linda Omwenga packed her bags after Ukrainian soldiers told the 24-year-old and her friends “it was not safe” in Kyiv because of the Russian assault.
They rushed, first to the western city of Lviv and then to the Rava-Ruska border crossing with Poland. There Ukrainian border guards separated foreigners from locals. “There was a lot of segregation, I wouldn’t say [just] Africans per se, but foreigners were being given the short end of the stick,” she said, after eventually reaching safety in Warsaw.
Her words echo those of many other people of colour who said they have found it harder than Ukrainians to get out of the country, even as neighbouring countries made it clear they were opening their doors to refugees. With videos posted on social media and sent to Financial Times reporters showing Ukrainian guards refusing to allow black Africans on to trains, African leaders have decried the discrimination against people of colour.