‘I will not be held prisoner’: the trans women turned back at Ukraine’s borders

Judis, a transgender woman trapped in Ukraine: ‘I will try again to cross the border because it’s my right to leave and to live.’ Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

As strange hands searched her body and pulled back her hair to check if it was a wig, Judis looked at the faces of the Ukrainian border guards and felt fear and despair.

“Ukrainian border guards undress you and touch you everywhere,” Judis says. “You can see on their faces they’re wondering ‘what are you?’ like you’re some kind of animal or something.”