(NEW YORK) — The two women had never met in a real life, but through social media they found a common interest: helping Africans students stranded in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Patricia Daley and Tokunbo Koiki, both Black British women, said they were appalled hearing reports of discrimination against minority refugees from Ukraine as they tried to cross into European countries. After seeing a Twitter thread on Africans struggling during the crisis, Daley said she reached out to people on the site to see how she could help and was connected to Tokunbo, who was doing the same.

“As soon as we found out…and the police were heavily discriminating against black and brown individuals. We started up an organization to support these individuals, make it so that they would not be prosecuted,” Daley, an attorney and activist, told ABC News.

Koiki, a social worker, says she knew she had to help because it “aligns with who I am.”

“I decided to use a blanket ‘black in Ukraine’ hashtag that was already being used previously for our campaign because I wanted to highlight and I want to put focus on the situation… I’m used to helping you know, jumping in and doing what I can where I can,” Koiki told ABC News.

So far, Daley and Koiki said they have raised over 100,000 dollars on GoFundMe, created a place for Africans in Ukraine to connect on the texting app Telegram and have helped hundreds of mostly African but also Caribbean students get out of the country safely.

They said they are also working to help another 300 individuals who are still in Ukraine, including Bukala Adu, a Nigerian medical student at Sumy State University.

“We are literally stuck here. Food is running short…So the situation here, day by day gets kind of worse. I don’t know how it’s going to be in a couple of days from now, we really need to leave here right now,” Adu told ABC News.

According to data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science, in 2019 there were about 80,000 international students studying in Ukraine from 158 countries. The majority of these students — about 23% — come from India, followed by Morocco, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Nigeria.

Adu says her school continued holding classes right up until the first attack.

“It’s really hard because I don’t think anybody wants to be in a condition where they can’t sleep completely because you have to [look out and see] when there is going to be an explosion,” Adu said. “So it’s actually really scary because when you hear like gunshots or explosions, you have to run to the bunker.”

While Adu has not yet tried to leave Ukraine herself, she says she was not surprised to learn of the reports of discrimination against minorities trying to cross the border into other countries.

“I would say I don’t really experience much of racism, but based on my friends and complaints, they have a darker skin complexion than I do,” Adu said. “They complain that they see racism…I feel really upset because I don’t know why people should be seeing colors. We are all human beings, so we should all be treated like human beings shouldn’t be differentiated.”

“I think it’s very upsetting and disheartening to hear that these students not only have to deal with the fear of fleeing a war, on top of that to deal with discrimination and racial prejudices that we have to deal with every day,” Daley said.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, thousands are still struggling to find a way out, with many minorities facing additional hardships. Many Africans living in Ukraine have reported being denied entry to neighboring countries like Poland.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected Ukrainians and non-citizens in many devastating ways. Africans seeking evacuation are our friends and need to have equal opportunities to return to their home countries safely,” Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tweeted in response to the reports of discrimination last week.

Kuleba also announced that Ukraine set up an emergency hotline for African, Asian and other students seeking to leave Ukraine.

United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi also last week said that he met with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau who “affirmed Poland’s commitment to continue receiving all those fleeing, without distinction.”

Meanwhile, Daley and Koiki said their initial social media efforts have led to the creation of a nonprofit organization, Black Women for Black Lives, with the goal of assisting people long after the crisis in Ukraine.

“I think that’s what they’re understanding now is that this anti-Blackness is a global thing…whether you’re in the UK, whether you’re in Europe, whether you’re in the United States…And so for me, what I want people to take away is that it can happen to anybody. It can happen to any of us,” Koiki says.

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(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”

Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Mar 11, 5:05 am
Number of refugees from Ukraine rises to 2.5 million

The number of refugees in the Ukraine crisis has increased to 2.5 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Commissioner Filippo Grandi called the conflict “senseless” in a tweet and said that the number of displaced people inside Ukraine had reached about two million.

Mar 11, 4:49 am
Putin orders Russian military to help volunteer fighters from Middle East travel to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defense minister to assist “volunteer” fighters to travel to Ukraine to join Russian forces there.

The order appears to relate to Russian efforts to recruit Syrian fighters that U.S. officials have said are underway.

Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, claimed to Putin that 16,000 volunteers from “the Middle East” had expressed a desire to come.

Shoigu claimed that the fighters, who he said had experience fighting ISIS, wanted to come not for money but a “sincere” desire to help.

U.S. officials have said they believe Russia is recruiting Syrians experienced in urban combat from its areas held by its ally, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. They are reported to be being offered just a few hundred dollars.

Mar 10, 11:08 pm
Senate approves $1.5 trillion funding bill with supplemental aid to Ukraine

The Senate passed a $1.5 trillion government funding bill late Thursday that includes $13.6 billion in supplemental aid to Ukraine by a vote of 68-31.

The legislation will now head to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

In a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki thanked leaders for “getting this bill done” and said Biden “looks forward to signing it into law.”

“With these resources, we will be able to deliver historic support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy,” she said in part.

The supplemental Ukrainian aid is split between defense and nondefense funding. The $1.5 trillion also includes funding for many of the administration’s priorities as well as sizable amounts for defense spending.

Mar 10, 10:43 pm
Biden to call for end to normal trade relations with Russia: Source

President Joe Biden will call for an end to normal trade relations with Russia on Friday, following their invasion of Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter. The decision would give the White House clearance to increase tariffs on the Kremlin.

“Tomorrow President Biden will announce that the U.S., along with the G-7, European Union, will be calling to revoke Most Favored Nation status for Russia, or called permanent normal trade relations, ‘PNTR,’ in the U.S.,” according to the source. “Each country will implement based on its own national processes. President Biden and the administration appreciate the bipartisan leadership of Congress and its calls for the revocation of the PNTR. Following the announcement tomorrow, the Admin looks forward to working with Congress on legislation to revoke PNTR.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has already publicly voiced support for this move.

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Russian forces move within 9 miles of Kyiv’s city center: Pentagon Ukraine update
Matt Seyler, ABC News

(WASHINGTON) — Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Thursday:

Russians approaching Kyiv

The Russian forces closest to the heart of Kyiv are coming from the northwest, in the area of the Hostomel Airport. Since Wednesday, these troops fought their way three miles closer, bringing them within roughly nine miles of the city center, according to the official. The airport is only about five miles as the bird flies from the outer city limits.

Two parallel lines of advance from the northeast are also making progress on their push to the capital, the closest of these troops now about 25 miles from the center of Kyiv.

Some Russian troops from one of those lines, emanating from above the town of Sumy, seem to have turned around, heading back northeast. The official said the reason for the about-face is unclear.

Russian bombardment continues

Russian forces have now fired more than 775 missiles against Ukraine, the official said. This is up from an estimate of 710 on Wednesday.

No Patriots to Ukraine

The official said there is no talk at the Pentagon of sending Patriot systems to Ukraine, as they would require U.S. troops on the ground to operate them.

“It’s not a system that the Ukrainians are familiar with. And as we have made very clear, there will be no U.S. troops fighting in Ukraine,” the official said.

Other air-defense options for Ukraine

Security assistance continues to flow into Ukraine, even in the last 24 hours, according to the official.

While the U.S. is sending its own anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapons, it is also working with other countries to send items the U.S. doesn’t have in its arsenal but could be used effectively by Ukrainian troops.

When asked, the official said this includes air-defense systems that are “more sophisticated” than the shoulder-fired Stinger missiles being sent by the U.S. So, while the Pentagon has rejected the idea of sending Patriot missile batteries, it could be helping facilitate the transfer or replenishment of similar systems that Ukrainians are trained on.

Ukraine making little use of its fighter jets

The official repeated the Pentagon’s rejection of a Polish proposal to pass its fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine by using the U.S. as an intermediary.

“We do not support a proposal whereby jets would be transferred to our custody, then to be brought into Ukraine,” the official said.

The Defense Department views sending aircraft to be an inferior form of support for Ukraine, despite Ukrainian officials’ requests.

“They are not flying their fixed-wing aircraft very much on a daily basis. We’re not making a judgment here, it’s just a fact. What they are using very effectively to slow the Russian advance, particularly in the north, are their own surface-to-air missile systems and MANPADS, as well as … anti-armor munitions,” the official said.

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