By: Sara
Sonita and her family have been living in a refugee camp for nearly two years in Kyiv. She like thousands of other Afghan refugees, students, and Afghan-Ukrainians are caught in the middle of Ukraine’s conflict following Russia’s invasion of the country.
“As the fighting intensifies every night, the lights are turned off, and this multiplies the panic in the camp,” she said, bursting into tears. “When gunshots were heard again last night, my son asked ‘mother, are we going to die tonight?’”
When the family fled Afghanistan, the plan was to immigrate to western Europe, but they were detained by the Ukrainian border forces along the way. They have been living in a prison-like military camp since then.
She said 60 immigrants are living in the Camp, and all of them were terrified when the missiles stroke, and all tied to break the gates to flee.
“We woke up to the sound of gunfire and explosions that day,” she said about the morning of February 24 when the Russians began their invasion. “We thought the police would release us in such an emergency. But they did not allow us to leave the camp and we were all beaten by guards.”
“We are trapped and have no supporters,” added.
Sonita isn’t her real name. Rukhshana media agreed not to use her real name.
Thousands of Afghans lived in Ukraine before the Russia invasion, hundreds of whom had fled Afghanistan after the fall of the former Afghan government on August 15.
The Taliban said they were aware about the plight of Afghans trapped in Ukraine war.
“The Islamic Emirate is concerned about the safety of Afghans and students living in Ukraine and is using all available facilities and communications to ensure the lives of its citizens and transfer them to a safe place,” Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, said in a tweet Saturday.
The biggest problem for many Afghans is that their passports were seized when they entered Ukraine. Without having any legal documents, they may not be allowed to cross the border into other European countries to flee the war in Ukraine.
Homaira, another Afghan woman in Ukraine, said she moved to the country 10 years ago. She is a medical university student. She said it was difficult for her to leave Ukraine after 10 years and once again immigrate to another country.
“We will hopelessly leave Ukraine as well,” she said.
