'Get Out, You’re All Dirty': Indian Students Allege Racism at Ukraine Borders

Some of the girls decided not to drink water all day as there was a lock outside the only bathroom in the vicinity.

After spending 48 hours in bunkers and shelter homes amidst continued shelling in Kyiv, on 26 February, over 400 Indian medical students travelled in buses and made their way towards the Siret border crossing near Romania.

The group of students arrived the next morning at the border crossing at 9 am. When they arrived, they had to join a long queue of more than 2,000 people, most of whom were African, Indian, and Middle-Eastern students.

Having had little to no food in their Kyiv shelter, the students decided to form a group of volunteers and head to a nearby Turkish restaurant to buy food, while others guarded their spots in the queue. When they arrived at the S’ A.M Turkish Grill restaurant, they were allegedly turned away by the staff.

'Never Faced Such Blatant Racism'

Speaking about his ordeal, Animesh Kumar, a fourth-year medical student from Vinnytsia National Medical University, said, “Most of us hadn’t eaten enough in two days and as soon as we arrived, the staff stopped us at the door. The man said, ‘Get out, you’re all dirty’ and that really took me by surprise. I had never faced such blatant racism.”

Animesh and his friends decided to talk to the staff and request them to sell them food at the door.

He revealed, “Right in front of us they were allowing Ukrainians and other Europeans into the restaurant while all of us were still waiting for them. Tell me again, how is that not racist?”

Turned away, feeling humiliated, the students approached another cafe near the Turkish restaurant.

Himani Arora, a third-year medical student from Vinnytsia, said, “After some of my friends were denied entry in the Turkish restaurant, we thought if a group of girls went, the other cafe would let us in. I was denied entry and while I was there, white Europeans were picking up coffees and snacks. I pleaded that I had to use the washroom and it was difficult for a girl to find one near the border. I was finally let in after waiting for three hours outside their door.”

On the pretext of using the washroom, Himani managed to buy some snacks and water for her group of friends. She added that the girls decided not to drink water all day as there was a lock outside the only bathroom in the vicinity.

“There was such a huge crowd that we didn’t feel comfortable attending to nature’s calls outside. It was so humiliating that the washroom was later locked. I fainted due to the lack of food and water. All this suffering went on for over 24 hours and no one except other Indian students helped us,” said Himani.

“The woman at this cafe would go out of her way and call out the Europeans behind us to come and buy food. If they went in to use washrooms, they weren’t stopped. After witnessing that, we took a decision to stay hungry until help arrived.”

Himani Arora, a third-year medical student from Vinnytsia

Students Kicked, Pushed by Cops

Adding to their woes due to lack of food and water, some of the students were even manhandled by the cops.

Multiple students posted videos with SOS calls from the Siret border crossing. A group of students was seen being kicked and pushed by border police.

One of these students was Paras, a fourth-year medical student of Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University.

He said, “The Ukrainian border police was letting in five Indian students at a time and hundreds of Europeans. They were letting them pass in large numbers. The police also pushed us aside and sent them through in buses and cars too.”

Paras revealed that due to the growing crowd pushing them towards the open gate, they faced immediate pushback from the border police.

“The gate was opened to let in Ukrainians and Europeans. So some of us who have been standing for two days decided to approach the gate. The police kicked us, pushed us back, and fired in the air,” Paras said.

@MFA_Ukraine aka the Twitter handle of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 2 March had denied allegations of racism at the Ukrainian borders, saying there is no discrimination “based on race, skin colour or nationality, including when it comes to the crossing of the state border by foreign citizens".

'Won't Forget Racism, Trauma I Endured For a While'

Were Indian students the only group that wasn't allowed to pass through?

Shivam Kumar Yadav, a student who witnessed the violence perpetrated towards Paras and others, said, “We watched in horror. They didn’t even spare the girls. They were kicking and they grabbed our necks to push us back. I had been standing at the border for four days. After a day of waiting, I witnessed they allowed groups of Middle-Eastern, American, and Nigerian students through. Indians were in huge numbers and it seemed illogical to deny such a big group to cross the border.”

“Denied food, water, bathroom, and border entry – it only happened to us. African students did face such incidents as well, but they were let through and we weren’t. Some of the students from Kharkiv even shared videos on university groups where they were denied entry into trains whereas Europeans were allowed to board,” he said.

Animesh, Himani, Paras, and Shivam safely crossed the Siret border on 28 February. After spending a day in a shelter and another at the Bucharest airport, they landed in New Delhi on 2 March.

Concluding our conversation, Shivam said, “After standing for four days and sleeping on cardboards under snowfall, I must say physically I have recovered but the racism I’ve endured and the trauma that followed won’t leave me for a while.”

(The author is an independent journalist based out of Paris. An alumna of University College Dublin, she writes about International Conflict and War.)