‘It’s becoming a humanitarian disaster’ Ukrainians stranded at Georgian border after deportation from Russia launch hunger strike
At least 15 Ukrainians deported from Russia declared a hunger strike at the Georgian border on August 6, demanding a meeting with their consular officials. Around 100 Ukrainian citizens remain stranded in the buffer zone, including a number of former prisoners and civilians from Russian-occupied areas who were persecuted for expressing pro-Ukrainian views. Having been expelled from Russia without documents, many of these Ukrainians have spent months trapped in a windowless basement at the Dariali border checkpoint, without proper food or access to medical care. According to those on hunger strike, Ukrainian and Georgian authorities announced talks on a possible resolution two weeks ago, but nothing has changed. Here’s what two Ukrainians stuck at the Georgian border told journalists from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service about their situation.
‘I want to go home’
Oleksandr, from Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, says he was arrested a decade ago after raising a Ukrainian flag in Yalta, Crimea. Russian-installed authorities on the occupied peninsula later transferred him to a high-security prison in Russia, near Krasnodar.
“FSB agents visited me. They bugged my cell, tortured me, tried to get me to cooperate,” Oleksandr says. “They told me, ‘Help us, and we’ll help you.’ I told them I wasn’t interested, that I just wanted to go home.”
After Oleksandr was released from prison, he was brought to the Dariali border crossing in Georgia. He’s now spent about two months in the buffer zone.
For Ukrainians released from Russian prisons, Georgia is the only viable route home. But without valid identity documents, they can be stuck at the border for weeks or even months, waiting for Ukraine’s embassy to confirm their citizenship. Only then can they obtain a temporary passport at the embassy in Tbilisi and return home.
“They took my documents — my Ukrainian passport, which had already expired. But since then, nothing has happened. Neither the Georgian nor the Ukrainian side has done anything,” Oleksandr says. “I don’t want to run off to Moldova or Europe. I want to go home. And I won’t hide there — I want to join the Armed Forces. But they won’t take me back.”
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‘Nothing is getting resolved’
Serhiy Larko left Ukraine’s Kharkiv region for Russia in 2015 to visit family. He says he was arrested for speaking out against the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of parts of Donbas, and ended up spending nine years in prison. He filed for extradition but says the process was stalled due to heavy fighting in Ukraine.
He’s now been stuck in the buffer zone of the Georgian border for two months. According to him, more than a hundred Ukrainians are being held there.
“We take turns sleeping, in five shifts. More people keep arriving, and it’s becoming a humanitarian disaster,” he says. “They let us go outside for five or ten minutes a day. The rest of the time we’re in a damp basement. There are 97 men here — a lot of them have [been diagnosed with] tuberculosis or hepatitis. There are people with disabilities, and we take care of them.”
In a neighboring building, by his account, ten women are being held in even worse conditions. There’s no ventilation, they are only allowed access to toilets three times a day, and there’s not enough food.
Unlike many others, Serhiy has a valid Ukrainian ID, known as an “internal passport.” He says this makes it all the more confusing why he hasn’t been allowed to enter Georgia.
Serhiy is one of at least 15 Ukrainians stranded at the border who recently declared a hunger strike. The group also sent a message to Ukraine’s embassy in Georgia by email. “At the very least, I want to see the consul,” he says.
No one’s listening. There’s no medical help. They keep dangling Mondays in front of us, saying everything will be resolved ‘on Monday.’ But nothing gets resolved. This protest is our way of trying to be heard. I want to go home — to Ukraine. I don’t want to go back to Russia. And there’s a chance that could happen. We haven’t crossed into Georgia yet, so they could easily send us back.
According to media reports, Russia has been deporting Ukrainians it deems “security threats” via the land border with Georgia since at least 2023.
