African students say they faced guns and hostile guards while fleeing Ukraine

ABUJA. Nigerian medical student Oduola Adebovale said he and several friends were trying to board a train to escape Ukraine when soldiers pointed guns at them and ordered them to return.

The Ukrainian military told him they only allowed pregnant women from Lvov to the Polish border, but he said he saw them prevent pregnant African women from boarding.

“When we asked why they were doing this, the soldiers pointed guns at us, endangering our lives,” he told Reuters days after he finally managed to complete his journey and land at Nigeria’s Abuja airport on Friday.

Dozens of international students echoed his complaints on social media, saying they were mistreated as they queued up with the crowd to escape the Russian invasion.

Reuters was unable to independently verify reports of Asian and African students being dragged off trains, detained at borders and pushed to the back of long lines.

The National Police of Ukraine and the State Border Service of Ukraine did not immediately respond to requests for comment on reports Reuters received from refugees.

Nigerian students wait on the platform of the Lviv railway station in Ukraine on February 27, 2022.Nigerian students wait on the platform of the Lviv railway station in Ukraine, February 27, 2022. Photo by AP/Bernat Armange

But the African Union said this week that it was concerned about what it was hearing, and the UN refugee agency said it had urged authorities in countries neighboring Ukraine to open their borders to African citizens.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that the authorities have opened a hotline for African and Asian students who need help traveling abroad. “We are working intensively to ensure their safety and expedite their passage,” he tweeted.

“THE POLICE GOT US OUT”

Adebovala finally managed to escape after waiting several hours for a train in Lvov and then obtaining permission to travel to Romania.

He was among 415 Nigerian students who flew to Abuja on a Nigerian government charter flight from Bucharest. The government also sent planes to collect Nigerians from Poland and Hungary.

Get the latest updates in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict live on The Post.

One student still waiting in Warsaw told Reuters via Zoom that he and two other Nigerians were removed from the train they boarded in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

“We were already in our cabin, and the police were called on us. The police came and pulled us out. The police (said) that “this is especially for Ukrainians,” said Oleksandr Orakh, a 25-year-old management student.

Reuters was also unable to independently confirm his account.

Some 415 Nigerian students arrived at Abuja Airport on a Nigerian government charter flight from Bucharest.Some 415 Nigerian students arrived at Abuja Airport on a Nigerian government charter flight from Bucharest. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Russian invasion of Ukraine on March 4, 2022.Russian invasion of Ukraine on March 4, 2022. NY Post Graphics

Orach said he and his friends were eventually allowed to take the train to Medyka, on the border with Poland, but were then met by guards who told them Africans, South Asians and Arabs needed to use another crossing to Romania.

When the students refused, he said that the guards erected barricades to prevent them from crossing the road and allowed the whites to leave. As the growing crowd began to move forward, he said, a soldier pointed his gun at them.

“He cocked the hammer and got into firing position, so we put our hands up and started telling him, ‘We’re students; we just want to go home.” In the end, Orach reached the Polish capital and began to look for his next exit.