The Overlooked Refugee Crisis on Ukraine’s Border

What You Need To Know:

✔️ Many of the refugees on the Hungarian border are well spoken and well educated;
✔️ Refugees spend 2,000 to 3,000 Euro per person to escape Syria;
✔️ Ukraine is not an attractive destination for refugees, because of war and because EU paid to help close Ukrainian borders;
✔️ Ukrainian asylum system is less welcoming than Hungary.

Very few of the refugees in Hungary actually wanted to remain in Hungary. Overwhelmingly, they wanted to go to Germany, Austria and Sweden. says Hromadske Journalist Angelina Kariakina .

Maxim Butkevich, of the No Borders project, says that "the balkan route is not new, it's been around for a long time, but the number of people trying to use it openly has become so visible that it's a story."

He adds that Ukraine is a transit route, not only for people from Afghanistan but also for people from other Eurasian countries. He goes onto say that Ukraine is a lot less attractive as a destination because of the war, but also because EU paid to help close Ukrainian borders.
Kariakina says that in terms of Hungary, "it's very complicated for someone seeking asylum to stay there, it's not a welcoming country." But regardless of the government stance, she says "we met lots of people in Hungary who were ashamed of what the government was saying. They held signs saying "Not In My Name."

Butkevich says that "Ukraine is even less welcoming than Hungary. We should be serious and show international and human solidarity or we should do something about our rhetoric."

Hromadske Journalist Angelina Kariakina and Maxim Butkevich, of the No Borders project, were interviewed by Hromadske Sunday Show co-hosts, Ian Bateson and Nataliya Gumenyuk on September 20th, 2015.