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Over 45 Ukrainians forcibly deported by Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories are being held in a basement at Russia’s border with Georgia without food, water, and basic healthcare, independent media outlet Astra reported on June 21.
“We are in a basement without utilities: there is no shower or toilet, they don’t feed us. Volunteers bring humanitarian aid, but it lasts for a couple of days and not for everyone,” one of the held Ukrainians told Astra.
A decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Ukrainians still living in occupied territories to leave unless they “regulate their legal status,” namely, obtaining Russian citizenship.
“We emphasize that these systematic deportations and persecutions are part of Russia’s genocide policy against the Ukrainian people,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on March 21.
At least 45 Ukrainians have been held at the Verkhniy Lars border checkpoint between Georgia and Russia for several days.
One of the deported Ukrainians has been hospitalized as they await passage out of Russia and into Georgia.
“There were 8 of us, 3 days ago. Every day, more people are brought here and the number is growing. Now there are 45 people, some have been here for a month. There are disabled people and people with serious illnesses,” one of the held Ukrainians said.
The basement facility has since 2023 held deported Ukrainians barred from entering the Russian Federation and the Ukrainian territories it occupies.
The held Ukrainians were denied entry into Georgia. Most did not have the necessary travel documents, but 16 Ukrainians with passports were denied entry as well, Astra reported, citing the non-profit organization Tbilisi Volunteers Organization.
“The basement is damp, there are drops of water on the ceiling, (it’s hard) to breathe, everyone smokes, they don’t let us outside. We sleep for four hours, taking turns. Some sleep on the floor,” one of the deported Ukrainians said.
The basement only houses 17 sleeping spaces, but another 100 deported Ukrainians are expected to arrive at the facility, a volunteer told Astra.
Following a pause in deportations to Georgia in 2024, Russia has resumed deportations as Georgia prepares new immigration legislation, the Tbilisi Volunteers Organization says.
Serhiy Serdiuk, a resident of occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was deported and banned from re-entering Russia and Ukraine’s occupied territories for 40 years, the Guardian reported on June 21.
Russian authorities pressed Serdiuk, an educator, to continue work under Russia’s imposed school curriculum.
Serdiuk and other staff at a school in Zaporizhzhia Oblast’s Komysh-Zoria town refused and were met with threats.
Serdiuk was similarly deported to Georgia, from where he flew to Moldova and crossed back into Ukraine.
Due to Russia’s illegal and unrecognized annexation of Ukraine’s occupied territories, Ukrainian citizens are pressured to obtain Russian citizenship or face deportation and entry bans.
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