‘Pushed back because we’re Black’: Africans stranded at Ukraine-Poland border

African students fleeing Russia's invasion pictured at Lviv station in western Ukraine on February 28, 2022. © Mehdi Chebil, FRANCE 24

Nigeria and South Africa have expressed alarm at reports that their nationals are being stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine. At Lviv train station, in western Ukraine, FRANCE 24 met several African students who say they were pushed back at the Medyka border crossing with Poland.

African governments on Monday were scrambling to help their nationals escape the Russian invasion in Ukraine as reports emerged of racist and unfair treatment of their citizens at the border with Poland.