In late February, the world watched as Russian forces invaded Ukraine through armed assaults on several major cities. In the following months, at least 5 million Ukrainians have fled their homes towards the safety of neighboring European countries with 7 million Ukrainians displaced internally. According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, there may be upwards of 10 million Ukrainians fleeing the country as a result of this intensifying conflict. Thus far, Poland has received the great majority of Ukrainians, followed by neighboring countries Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia.

Europe is no stranger to refugee crises, most recently seen with the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis resulting from the Syrian Civil War. As of 2021, there were an estimated 1 million Syrian asylum seekers and refugees now residing in Europe. The Ukrainian refugee crisis has quickly shown a disturbing contrast to Europe’s previous reception of refugees from the Middle East and Africa. The most striking difference between the exodus of Ukrainian citizens into Eastern Europe versus those from other countries has been the immediate outpouring of support and empathy displayed by the European public and government leaders. Media coverage has emphasized a sense of shock at a war occuring in a “civilized” European country, as opposed to in what the West sees as the “war-torn” Middle East. 

This should come as no surprise given the history of Western media coverage on similar crises. The prevailing rhetoric towards Syrian refugees, especially towards the tail end of the crisis, largely elicited fear by painting them as the dangerous outsider. Media coverage even promoted hate speech towards Syrian refugees, especially in areas of Eastern Europe, in the same countries now welcoming swaths of Ukrainian refugees. 

These same sentiments are echoed in recent media coverage, with statements such as “just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria. These are Christians or white.” A CBS reporter covering the Ukrainian refugee crisis defined Ukraine as “relatively civilized, European,” as compared to Iraq and Afghanistan. While this statement was later retracted, it serves as an illustration of the media implying a cultural superiority of Europeans. This rationalization of better treatment for Ukrainian refugees on the grounds of cultural, and essentially racial similarity is further asserted by the media’s past portrayal of Middle Eastern refugees as potential terrorists. The European Network Against Racism’s 2015-2016 report also found similar characterizations being made for African refugees, who were often referred to as “economic” and “illegal” migrants, instead of describing the political oppression they were fleeing. 

When it comes to refugees hailing from the Middle East, Western media has continued to pounce on national security concerns and potential strain to infrastructure and economic systems. This kind of coverage ignores the essential human aspect of a refugee crisis. This language asserts the harmful geopolitical stereotyping of Middle Eastern and African regions of the world as the unfavorable counterparts to a civilized, educated Europe. These regions are presented as places where war is innate, making the victims of war not worth saving.

The linked cultural and political past between Ukraine and Eastern Europe has been considered a strong driving force behind the outpouring of support for Ukrainian refugees throughout Europe. Ukraine has long been a country balanced between the influence of Russia, their own sovereignty, and the desire to cultivate a stronger relationship with the European Union. However, political ties should not be factored into a country’s policy regarding refugee intake. As a more developed region of the world, one with a greater economic and infrastructural propensity for refugee intake, there is a greater obligation to permit refugees regardless of where they come from.

The truth of the matter is that countries welcome refugees whom they find it easier to sympathize with or when it is politically favorable to accept them. However, if Europe and Western media are to embrace and identify with the ideals of a free Ukraine, a nation standing for its own sovereignty and democracy, they must stand for equality. There is an opportunity to do so in our dialogue surrounding refugees, empathizing with experiences and humanity rather than shared ethnicity and race.