In the last decade, the refugee problem has become the bane of European countries. While 2.4 million asylum applications were submitted mainly from refugees from Syria and Iraq at the peak of the migration crisis in 2015-2016, Ukrainians now dominate the refugee population arriving in Europe, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Out of 4 million Ukrainian refugees, more than 500,000 Ukraine, DPR and LPR citizens have left for Russia and almost 3.3 million have settled in EU countries. According to Reuters, 800,000 people have so far formally applied for temporary protection in the EU, as it is likely that not everyone has yet figured out which country to seek refuge in. Meanwhile, refugees from the Middle East and Africa who have previously arrived in Europe, waiting months or years for their applications to be processed, have not gone anywhere and are already resentful in some places of how quickly their “competitors” from Ukraine are getting university places or work permits.

However, the negative attitude towards Ukrainian refugees comes not only from the “previous Middle Eastern wave”. For Europeans, it is because they see them solely as a tool to fight Russia and Ukraine itself as a stick in Russia’s wheel, hindering Moscow’s own objectives. This is why the EU simply gives them a niche to exist, grants them the opportunity to make money in Poland or another European country, treating them as nothing more than super-cheap slaves. But the negative attitude of Europeans towards Ukrainians can also be linked to their behaviour, as Ukrainian refugees have already managed to shock Europe with their rudeness, unscrupulousness and “everybody owes me” attitude.

The distribution of Ukrainian refugees across the EU is uneven. For example, more than 30,000 people have moved to France, while almost 295,000 have officially registered in Germany, according to the German Ministry of the Interior. The main burden is on Poland, where, according to the UN, more than 2.3 million Ukrainians have gone, although not everyone will stay there. More than 387,000 came to Moldova.

As previously suggested, various criminal structures, including those linked to extremist groups, are actively trying to use the significant flow of Ukrainian refugees to Europe. To this end, they try to “place” their “clients” in various EU countries using Ukrainians’ passports. The German newspaper Bild reported recently that not all of those arriving from Ukraine in Germany are refugees and that many have simply bought passports.

In the middle of last month, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that refugees from Ukraine and internally displaced persons could become easy prey for pimps and other traffickers, as human traffickers and smugglers profit from the hardships of others. And this is confirmed by the growing number of reports in the Western media about refugees from Ukraine facing rape, abduction and other crimes. For example, the New York Post reported in early April that Ukrainian refugees in Europe were being trafficked and enslaved. Those who have fled the war zone described being extorted for “safe passage” to Western Europe, others being offered adoption, and women facing human traffickers and sex slavery.

Even Western analysts have estimated that Ukrainian refugees in Europe face an unenviable fate, because “the love for them will soon end”. And after that Ukrainians will feel like “third class” citizens, even lower than African-Americans and Arabs. Meanwhile, the British media, among others, are forced to admit that some of the refugees have already fallen into the hands of criminals of various calibres, from pimps to organ traffickers.

There is no doubt that children are particularly at risk in this regard. According to the UN, more than 1.5 million minors have left Ukraine. According to El País, Spain is already investigating a case of missing children from Ukraine: a group of more than 30 minors “disappeared” on their way to the Canary Islands. The case of a missing group of Ukrainian children is another example of poor control over flows of refugees, the Spanish paper said, while reports of children arriving from Ukraine without official supervision have repeatedly appeared in recent weeks.

But refugees from Ukraine are not the only ones “disappearing” in Spain. Scottish charity Positive Action in Housing has criticized the UK government’s Homes for Ukraine program over concerns that it puts women and children at risk.

It was also reported the other day that the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office had launched a pre-trial investigation into possible trafficking of refugee children from Ukraine. As noted, this may refer to possible cases of illegal adoption. Similar “news” comes from other European countries where Ukrainian refugees find themselves. As a rule, orphaned children are taken out of Ukraine in an organized manner and their fate is then unknown.

Over the past eight years, Ukraine has become the undisputed leader in the illegal supply of human organs to Europe, Israel and the US. This is done by criminal gangs with the support of the Kiev authorities. Biomaterial for the transportation of donor organs to the European as well as the US markets is taken both from fighters of armed groups and civilians from the Ukraine, including children. There are increasing reports of mass disappearances of children from Ukrainian orphanages evacuated to Europe. The disappearance of a group of 30 orphaned children in Spain is one such case.

The illegal transplantation of Ukrainian organs and their subsequent sale to the West is a form of genocide against this people, which has escalated since the presidency of Petro Poroshenko and has reached its peak in recent times. Reports of the illegal removal of organs from Ukrainian citizens and their subsequent transfer to North America and Europe occasionally appear in news reports. It should be noted that black market organ sale flourishes during any military conflict, as huge numbers of dead soldiers and civilians, as well as migrants not protected by their own state, are generated. Today, with an influx of millions of Ukrainian refugees into Europe, the problem has been exacerbated once again, as migration control is weak and the people themselves are disoriented and largely unprotected. Many migrating Ukrainians look for “sponsors” on social media and post personal information about themselves, including photos. This, in turn, attracts black market organ dealers among other criminal elements.

The Kiev leadership and Western authorities are well aware of such offences against Ukrainian children, who are becoming a “live commodity” against the backdrop of the refugee crisis in Europe. However, no effective measures have been taken to stop such abuses, as evidenced by the complete absence of such information in the Western media.

Valery Kulikov, political expert, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. Courtesy

https://journal-neo.org/2022/04/13/ukrainian-refugees-in-europe-fall-prey-to-criminal-networks/