Foreigners walk to Shehyni checkpoint to cross from Ukraine into Poland on March 1, 2022 | Photo: Picture-alliance
Since the beginning of the mass exodus from Ukraine to EU countries, there have been reports of unequal treatment and discrimination against non-Ukrainians at train stations, border crossings and elsewhere. Now that these third-country nationals are scattered across Europe trying to figure out their options, they face additional challenges, as reports about confiscated passports show.
Reports of discrimination, violence and xenophobia against people escaping bombs and bullets in Ukraine are almost as old as Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor Ukraine itself. In the weeks following February 24, a growing number of these reports prompted a debate over the unequal treatment of refugees depending on where they're from.