By Nation World News Desk
Africans escaping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been plagued with severe instances of racism, The Daily Mail reports.
Black migrants are being barred from public transportation, beaten, and threatened at gunpoint by roving militias. Korrine Sky, a 26-year-old British-Zimbabwean national who has taken up medical studies in Ukraine since September, described the scene as ‘like an apocalyptic movie,’ with armed vigilantes wandering the streets.
Ms. Sky, the mother of a nine-month-old infant, told The Independent that she was threatened at gunpoint by local armed men because of the color of her skin as she attempted to flee the quickly developing violence.
Ms. Sky’s Twitter account states that she has driven to the border with Romania, where she is still waiting to pass, and that she has received “some threats of violence from some local Ukrainians who don’t feel we should enter.”
Meanwhile, Osarumen, a Nigerian citizen and father of three, claimed he and his family were requested to give up their seats on a cross-border bus leaving Ukraine, with the driver and military personnel using the words “no blacks” as an explanation.
Senegalese President Macky Sall and African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat stated on February 28 that they were “especially troubled” by reports that African people on the Ukrainian side of the border were being denied the ability to cross the border to safety.
In response to the accusations, African Union officials issued a statement saying, ‘Reports that Africans are being singled out for unacceptable disparities in treatment would be tragically discriminatory and in violation of international law.’
“There have been unfortunate reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards the Ukraine-Poland border,” said presidential advisor Garba Shehu in a statement.
On February 28, Nigeria asked border authorities in Ukraine and elsewhere to treat its nationals fairly. Shehu cited a video online in which a Nigerian lady with a little child was violently pushed to give up her seat.
According to him, there have also been allegations of Polish authorities rejecting Ukraine’s access into Poland.
