“lax from Kabul, now I'm in the middle of another”

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Afghans who fled to Ukraine from chaos and fighting after the Taliban invaded Kabul in August told of their shock in the war that has begun there, the BBC reports.

The situation of Afghanistan when the Taliban took power was better than what I see here in Ukraine. We are now escaping again, but this time towards an unknown fate”, says Haidar Seddiqi, a 36-year-old former Afghan army.

Seddiqi told how he woke up for morning prayer Thursday to find his refugee camp in northern Ukraine in chaos when the Russian invasion began.

It was all news. People started shouting until the authorities at the camp finally opened the doors and told us to leave”.

They walked more than 75km and arrived in the northern town of Chernihiv, which is now a conflict zone. Seddiqi is now trying to reach Ukraine's western border to escape.

Fazila Heidari, 26, and her younger sister were stewardesses in Afghanistan. They ended up in Lviv, west of Ukraine, after leaving the Taliban.

They have been waiting in Ukraine to move to a third country. They have desperately sought help by contacting anyone they know.

We thought it would be safe here, but look at the situation. I've called U n NHCR and other organisations, but no one is responding to our” calls, Haidari says.

I was happy to survive the Taliban, but now I'm wondering if leaving Kabul was the right decision because I'm now in the middle of another<x1.

They have now left Lviv to try to reach the Polish border.

About 5 thousand Afghans live in Ukraine, including 370 who left in August when the Taliban regained control of the country.