AFRICAN workers and students seeking to flee Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion are complaining of being blocked from buses, trains and border crossing points while priority is given to Ukrainian citizens.
A VOA reporter in western Ukraine says that priority is being given to Ukrainians but that he has not seen evidence Africans are being treated differently from other foreigners.
Nevertheless, some Africans — among the hundreds of thousands of people desperately trying to leave Ukraine — are alleging racial discrimination, prompting denials from Ukrainian authorities and concern from the United States and international bodies.
Augustine Akoi Kollie, a Liberian national studying medicine in the western Ukraine’s city of Ternopil, said he witnessed the disparities while waiting overnight Saturday to cross the border near Suceava, Romania.
People stood shivering in long lines, clutching luggage and children, and “if a Ukrainian comes, you have to shift and make way
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