Afghanistan refugee flees Ukraine

Suceava, Romania



Conflict has forced a family from Afghanistan to flee across borders twice in less than a year after taking refuge in Ukraine.

Fourteen-year-old Samad* and his family faced the unthinkable when fighting erupted in Ukraine just eight months after they fled violence in Afghanistan.

Samad’s father Mohammad* said: “My family came here for peace. But when they heard fighting would start here… nobody could believe it. That there would be bombing, there would be fighting. But it was real. It was not a dream.”

Fighting in Ukraine has forced hundreds of thousands of children into neighbouring countries in the space of just two weeks. Hundreds of civilians have been killed, including children. Schools and health facilities have come under attack.



Away from the violence which has escalated to horrific levels in Ukraine, conflict rages in many places across the world. The number of children living in high intensity conflict zones is rising, reaching 193 million according to the latest figures.



Samad and his family were in eastern Afghanistan when fighting escalated across the country in July 2021. Along with his father, mother and two grown up siblings, Samad made it to Kabul where they spent three days outside the airport trying to secure their escape, with gunfire ringing out as the alarming pictures were beamed across the world.

Samad said: “It was war and it was bombing, and very bad days. A lot of people were killed in this war. So we left Afghanistan.”

When they finally made it inside and onto an evacuation flight their destination was Ukraine, where Mohammad had spent time living and working for 30 years. The thought that just months later they would be fleeing for their lives a second time was unimaginable.

But the unimaginable happened. Samad was settling into life in eastern Ukraine, going to school, making friends and starting to learn the language when suddenly he and his family found themselves in the path of approaching bombardment again.

Samad said: “It was a very big thing for me to come from war, and live in a peaceful place… This was very good for me and my family. I made friends... I came to school. And the people were very kindly.”

As the fighting started, Samad and his family heard explosions in the distance. They made the devastating decision to flee another country.

For Samad, the echoes of eight months ago are unavoidable. “It was just like this in Kabul. A lot of people wanted to leave Kabul and go to a peaceful place. And [in Ukraine], a lot of people wanted to leave and go to a peaceful place, for their children, for themselves.

“When the war started in Afghanistan we left our house full of things.” Now, after rebuilding their lives once, they were forced to abandoned everything they own in Ukraine. “We just closed and locked our house and came here,” he added.

They drove for more than thirty hours on crowded roads before waiting three days at the border, sleeping in their car wh