‘Scared for our lives’: grave concerns over safety of refugees detained by Ukraine

Afghans trying to flee Ukraine resting in Lviv railway station a few days after the Russian invasion began. Photograph: Bernat Armangué/AP

Human rights groups are calling for the urgent release of detainees in Ukrainian immigration centres, after allegations that conditions have dangerously deteriorated since the Russian invasion in February.

At least 45 people are thought to remain in the EU-funded Zhuravychi migrant accommodation centre, a former army barracks situated in a pine forest in the Volyn province, according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).