The invasion of Ukraine by Russians compelled many people from different nationalities to find a way to escape the country to preserve their lives and the ones of their families. Since the beginning of the conflict that damages the whole country and big cities like Kyiv and Kharkov, surrounded by the military forces of Russian president Vladimir Putin who waged wage to Ukraine after having officially recognized the two separatist republics of Donbas (Luhansk and Donetsk), about 1 200 000 people were forced to leave the country towards other countries of Europe, close to Ukraine but safe still as part of NATO or the European Union: Poland, Germany, Romania or Slovakia.

Among those refugees, who sometimes have to leave one member of the family behind who did not make it because trains and buses are packed and overcrowded and there is no room for everyone, a lot of Africans, either students or workers, are also attempting to go far away from the war to get safe in the nearby countries. Nigerians, Ivorians, Moroccans or Kenyans are thus trying to escape for an uncertain future in Poland or Romania, as every single refugee. Nonetheless, and sadly, some of them are facing more difficulties than European refugees.

Without falling into victimization in such a dramatic period, several African refugees had to cope with racist behaviors while leaving the country. Insults in Russian or Ukrainian from security agents were heard in videos posted on social networks. Many Africans said they were stopped at the border without any possibility to pass. Some others said they were refused a seat in a bus, or even worse, had to leave the seat for someone else. The African Union already denounced those irregularities and reminded that everyone, no matter the origin or skin color, benefited from the same rights to leave Ukraine.