The Ukrainian refugee crisis began when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

As a direct result of this war, over 12 million refugees have led the country, with most of these refugees being the elderly, women, and children. Most men have been unable to flee the country due to the fact that many men have been told to stay behind and fight for Ukraine. The refugees have fled to various neighboring countries such as Moldova, Poland, and Hungary.

These Ukrainian refugees are welcomed into countries with open arms and have been sent to various shelters where they are taught the language of the country that they are in and given food and water.

While it is good that these people are being taken care of and are given a place to rest and get away from the horrors of war that have gripped their country, they are given different treatment than the refugees from other war-stricken countries.

While covering the Ukrainian-Russian war, many journalists, mostly American and European, have described it as “something that Europe is not used to.” 

Many reporters have also talked about the surprise of war because it’s happening in Europe, which hasn’t really seen a major conflict on its soil since World War II.

 “This is not a developing, third-world nation. This is Europe!” said one IVT reporter.

Many journalists have also seemed to have more sympathy for the Ukrainians because they “look like us,” and are fleeing in cars like “ours.”

While there is some truth to these statements, the Ukrainians do in fact look like the residents of their neighboring nations and are not classified as a developing nation, the statements have racial bias.

The statements from the journalists imply that because the refugees from Ukraine look like Americans and Europeans and live lives similar to ours, suddenly people should care more about them, and while we should care about them, what’s happening in their country isn’t any different from what happened in Syria or Afghanistan.