Black student in Ukraine pushed back from the train as security shoot

A Londoner was left feeling “helpless” after his brother was unable to leave Ukraine when guards stopped him from boarding a train.

Justin from Lewisham says his 25-year-old brother Ifeyour Jerry saw bombs and shooting as he tried to flee the capital of the eastern European country.

Ifeyour – a first-year Economics student says he tried to get a train out of Kyiv but that he was pushed back from the doors as security shot in the air.

The student says that only “white people” were allowed onto the carriage to Lviv at Vokzal station and that he worried he would never see his brother again.

READ MORE: Black Brit student in Ukraine had a gun aimed at her but insists: ‘I won’t leave others behind’

Ifeyour said: “We went to a train station in Kyiv. We wanted to go to a city called Lviv as it wasn’t affected by the invasion at that time. I got to the entrance of the train door and the security man didn’t let me go in, instead he was pushing us back and shooting in the air to scare everyone away.

“People were really worried and complaining and even started fighting. They started taking white people first. When they finished taking them, the train filled up and left.”

The two close brothers who grew up in Nigeria, stayed in contact with each other throughout as Justin tried to find ways to help from miles away in London. But the Londoner said he “couldn’t imagine” what was going through his sibling’s mind.

Justin said: “His mental health has been disturbed, he experienced the bombing, he experienced the shooting, he’s seen everything first hand and I cannot imagine how much is going through his mind.”

The Lewisham native struggled to get a hold of Ifeyour while he tried to make his way out out of the turbulent situation.

Ifeyour said: “He kept texting, calling, video calls, saying, ‘where are you? What’s going on? Hope you are fine.’

“There were times when we were running and I couldn’t call, I couldn’t text anyone, he would call me and I wouldn’t answer and he would text me saying, ‘call me back whenever you can, I need to know if you’re fine or not.’

“If he could send a private jet to get me he would do that. He was really concerned. He was just telling me to leave and find a way to leave.”

During the desperate moments of trying to flee the bombardment of Kyiv, the 25-year-old says that he had to find a way to “get through”.

He said: “I just felt like whatever happens, let it be. That’s what was going through my mind at that moment. I was not scared of dying or something happening, you just find a way to get through.”

Ifeyour said that he and his flatmates continued to wait for more trains to come but that they still were not allowed to board.

The student added: “We stood there for several hours, missing four trains, each train that came, the same thing happened. They took their own people first and left Black people. People were pushing and some got injured in the process.”

Eventually, Ifeyour says he met other friends and decided to take a taxi to Lviv but that drivers were asking for $1000 to take them.

The student said: “We tried explaining the situation to them. We said, ‘we can give you $700 but they refused. We approached several drivers but none of them could go with our price.”

The student decided to go back to the train station but says that when he attempted to board security prevented him from getting on.

Ifeyour then decided to try a different route where a “kind” train guard allowed him and his friends to board.

He said: “He was very kind and didn’t question and tell us to go back. He just accepted us inside the train. We were very lucky. The train guard said it was going to stop at different cities.

“My brother was giving me options and he was the first person that told me not to go to the Polish border because they were restricting people, so I didn’t go there.”

After trekking to the border, Ifeyour made it to Slovakia. But after the experience in Ukraine, he says that he fears for the future and that others are still struggling to get out areas such as Kherson in the south of Ukraine.

He said: “We got to the border, they stamped us and let us inside the city. We spent about 12 hours on the Ukraine -Slovakian border. Little children were standing and old women and those with a disability. The crowd was so big. I saw people who couldn’t stand for long and they were crying.

“We had to get accommodation to stay. We thank God for everything, at least everyone who left is alive. Some people are still in Ukraine, they are finding their way out but it’s not easy for them anymore. It’s a worse situation now.

“It makes others feel like what we were reading in school – past history, it’s really happening in reality. For this generation and in future it’s not a good thing at all.”

The 25-year-old decided to leave Slovakia and move to Poland where he hopes to resume his studies and make plans to see his brother again.

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But after being woken by the sound of explosions, the student says he still gets flashbacks.

Ifeyour said: “It was not a good experience. Sometimes I have flashbacks. I get a flashbacks of the whole thing.

“The only time I’ve seen such situations is in movies or watching clips on the internet but it was really something no one should pray for.”