Ukrainians who were imprisoned at the time of the full-scale invasion and later deported by the occupiers to Russia in the fall of 2022 have been waiting for their “white passports” in Georgia for several weeks. They have now appealed to the Ukrainian embassy and emphasized that they were “left on the street” with virtually nothing.
This is stated in the material of Radio Liberty, reports UNN.
About a dozen Ukrainian ex-convicts came to the Ukrainian embassy in Georgia to ask for help in returning home: the former prisoners report the difficult situation they found themselves in:
- At the time of the occupation, they were in prison;
- Then in the fall of 2022, they were deported to Russia;
- They were eventually released, but without a Ukrainian passport;
- These people have been stuck on the Russian-Georgian border - in the buffer zone, in the cold and almost without food, for almost a month.
- Now they are waiting for the embassy to confirm them as Ukrainian citizens.
Example:
At the beginning of 2022, Oleksiy Spitsyn was in penal colony No. 90 in Kherson for theft.
He confirmed that in the period before the de-occupation of the city, representatives of the Russian Federation took the convicts to Russia, where they were “dumped” for several months and “thrown out on the street.
Ombudsman: 17 more Ukrainians leave occupation and deportation10.02.25, 15:03
Volunteers were looking for funds to clothe us, find us housing, and provide us with food,” says Oleksiy.
Now the ex-convict lives in Tbilisi, where he entered through the Russian-Georgian border. But the man has no documents - in fact, he, like other convicts from Kherson, is waiting for confirmation from the Ukrainian embassy that they are citizens.
However, it should be noted that in Tbilisi, volunteers rented a hostel for Oleksiy and other deported ex-convicts, and also provided them with food. Despite having a document confirming Ukrainian citizenship, the diplomatic mission has not yet issued a “white passport”. It will take time, possibly at least 1.5 months.
But the volunteers ran out of funding.
They found the money themselves. Now there were 12 of us living in the hostel. We were asked to move out because we had no payment. “With things to go,” as they say.
Another ex-convict, Anatoliy, also describes the difficult situation in the Radio Liberty story. According to him, “people's hands are tied”.
It is damp, cold, and there is a shortage of food. Today we are without bread. Last week we were without bread. We have ten pita breads. We had flour, yeast, we could have baked our own bread, but they took it away because we couldn't. They brought potatoes, but they were rotten inside.
I know there is a problem with financing. I'm running out of nerves. What should we do next? Are we going to starve here?
AddendumAddendum
Human rights activist Anna Skrypka said that she had informed the Ukrainian authorities about the problems with funding, but had not yet received a response from officials.