The situation of Afghan refugees in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Afghan users on social media have reacted rapidly to the developments in Ukraine. Both because of the events of August last year and because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reminiscent of the former Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

More than 5,000 Afghans live in Ukraine, including about 370 who were deported in August last year. Now that Ukraine has become a battleground, many countries are seeking to evacuate their citizens to safety. But Afghan students and migrants who were deported to Ukraine six months ago think they have been "forgotten" and no one cares about saving their lives.

There will be another challenge for refugees who were transferred to Ukraine from Afghanistan six months ago. Most of their passports are in the Ukrainian Immigration Service, which has now become the front line of the war, and many are worried that this problem will complicate the process of identifying them.

Ahmad Sajjad (a pseudonym) was a senior Afghan military official until six months ago. When the Taliban entered Kabul, they left Afghanistan with some of their colleagues on one of the last passenger flights. "The problem now is that no one is listening to us or thinking about us. I feel very helpless, we do not have an embassy,   we do not have a government, we do not have an identity. We have no one to stand by," he told the BBC.

Haidar Siddiqui is another Afghan immigrant, according to him, camp officials told him and 250 refugees from other countries that from now on they will be responsible for saving their lives. They estimate that they have to walk more than 47 km to reach the nearest main road. "We were told you would be alone from now on," the camp officials said when asked for help.

Ukraine has been one of the destinations for immigrants to enter the European Union. Many refugees from various countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been temporarily resettled in the country. Now they are faced with a full-blown state of war, but they are facing countless difficulties and challenges in trying to leave Ukraine, but they seem to have been forgotten amid the media hype surrounding the war.

 

_{Source and Credit: BBC}