‘Unbearable’: Ukrainians deported by Russia, stranded at Georgia border

Warning: This communicative contains references to suicide

In a damp, crowded basement astatine the confederate entranceway of the Dariala Gorge, the mountainous no-man’s-land betwixt Georgia and Russia, much than 90 Ukrainian deportees from Russia are being held.

The deportees astatine the Georgian borderline checkpoint tin lone measurement extracurricular erstwhile they request the toilet, and they indispensable spell successful pairs nether the watchful eyes of Georgian borderline guards.

They are present due to the fact that they can’t transverse the borderline straight from Russia to Ukraine owed to the war, and Georgia refuses to fto them successful due to the fact that galore have criminal backgrounds, truthful they are stranded. Some person present been surviving successful the basement for astir 2 months.

Most of these men – on with a fistful of women – are erstwhile prisoners successful Russia who person been deported aft serving their sentences, but immoderate person been expelled for different reasons, specified arsenic problems with their migration documents.

On Sunday night, July 20, they mounted a protest.

“We’re not allowed outside!” 1 of the men shouted arsenic they were surrounded by information unit connected the premises.

“We’re being tortured here,” called another.

“It’s damp, there’s [disabled people] present without aesculapian attention, there’s thing present astatine all,” helium added.

A video sent by the deportees to Al Jazeera shows 1 antheral precise earnestly harming himself during the Sunday nighttime protest.

“He’s been present much than a month,” 45-year-old Nikolai Lopata, 1 of the different detainees, told Al Jazeera by phone.

“He was promised doubly [that] helium would beryllium taken away. He bought [travel] tickets twice, and some times nary 1 returned the money,” Lopata said, noting that the man, who suffers from anxiety, has repeatedly been denied support to question done Georgia to Ukraine.

An ambulance arrived aft much than an hour, and paramedics bandaged his wounds, past near without him. The man, who appeared successful the video to beryllium successful his precocious 30s oregon aboriginal 40s, was not hospitalised and remains astatine the checkpoint, volunteers astatine the country who are successful interaction with Al Jazeera said.

Ukrainian detainees hold successful an underground holding country astatine the Russia-Georgia border, wherever men slumber successful shifts owed to the deficiency of beds [Courtesy of Nikolai Lopata]

‘They won’t fto america successful oregon out’

The detainees, who person arrived from Russia oregon territories occupied by Russia and person been released from situation successful caller months, are present stuck successful limbo successful this buffer zone, Lopata explained. In total, astir 800 deportees are thought to beryllium stuck successful Russia oregon astatine Russian-Georgian borderline points, experts say.

“They [Georgian borderline officials] took our documents. They won’t fto america successful oregon retired of Georgia. They support telling america ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’. Some radical person been present for much than a period and a fractional successful terrible, unbearable conditions,” Lopata said.

Originally from Dnipro successful cardinal Ukraine, Lopata said helium had been surviving successful Russia, wherever helium has a Russian wife, 2 children and a sister, since 2005. But successful 2010, helium was convicted of murder. When helium completed his condemnation successful 2024, helium was sent to a deportation centre for different year. By then, the full-scale warfare betwixt Russia and Ukraine was raging, truthful getting a one-way formation to Kyiv was impossible.

“Last summer, they [the Russian authorities] promised to nonstop maine to Georgia. Then, successful winter, they promised to nonstop maine to Ukraine done Belarus. Then, we were taken to the borderline of Georgia, which supposedly accepts us, but Georgia is not accepting,” Lopata said.

Instead, erstwhile helium reached the borderline connected July 4, Lopata said, helium was photographed, fingerprinted and had his documents confiscated by Georgian borderline officials earlier being taken to a cellar.

“We don’t bash anything. We beryllium successful the basement,” Lopata continued, explaining that the men slumber successful shifts due to the fact that determination are lone 40 beds.

The men are provided with precise small and deficiency reliable aesculapian assistance, alternatively having to trust connected exigency care.

“An ambulance comes astir each day, sometimes doubly a day, due to the fact that determination are disabled people, determination are sick people,” Lopata said, adding that determination is idiosyncratic with epilepsy, a idiosyncratic with HIV, and different with tuberculosis. “But they don’t connection thing too contiguous help. Yesterday, for example, they made an injection of painkiller, past said, ‘That’s it, we can’t assistance with thing else.’”

Activists and volunteers effort to bring essentials to the detainees each week.

Food, household items and idiosyncratic hygiene products are delivered by Volunteers Tbilisi, an organisation helping Ukrainian refugees successful Georgia.

“There is nary entree to caller air, determination is simply a batch of vigor and the cellars are closed,” organiser Maria Belkina told Al Jazeera.

“These are not conditions you tin unrecorded successful astatine all.”

Ukrainian deportees held astatine the Russia-Georgia borders are not allowed to transverse the reddish obstruction but nether supervision [Courtesy of Nikolai Lopata]

Route done Moldova cancelled

Anna Skripka, a lawyer for the NGO, Protection of Prisoners of Ukraine, told Al Jazeera that this occupation has been mounting for the past 2 years of the warfare successful Ukraine: “This humanitarian catastrophe started successful 2023.”

Skripka said immoderate radical person go truthful hopeless they person tried to termination themselves. “They didn’t recognize what was going on,” she said.

“The conditions determination are terrible.”

According to Skripka, determination are 84 men and 7 women presently being detained, and portion the women are held successful a abstracted room, their conditions are besides poor.

“The women kick to maine that they’re not being taken to the toilet,” Skripka said.

“They asked america to bargain them a bucket with a lid to spell to the toilet.”

Previously, deportees astatine this borderline crossing were transferred by autobus to Tbilisi Airport to alert to Moldova and past connected to Ukraine. That’s however Ukrainian activistic Andriy Kolomiyets, considered a governmental captive by the Russian quality rights radical Memorial, returned location earlier this period aft serving 10 years connected cause and attempted execution charges.

Skripka explained that 43 detainees managed to permission betwixt aboriginal June and July, landing successful Moldova and past getting a autobus to Ukraine. But 4 of them got disconnected the autobus and stayed successful Moldova, prompting the landlocked Eastern European state to halt cooperation.

“They’re already backmost successful Ukraine,” Skripka said astir the missing four, which Al Jazeera could not confirm, “but Moldova said, ‘Stop, we bash not privation to hazard it.’”

As a result, since mid-July, Moldova has refused transition for Ukrainian deportees from Russia.

While Georgia was cooperative astatine first, it has besides begun refusing to let deportees done connected the ground that galore are ex-convicts who person served situation clip successful Russia, earnestly limiting the options for Ukrainians trying to return.

“Most of these individuals person a superior transgression past and person been convicted galore times for sedate oregon peculiarly sedate crimes,” the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said successful a statement.

But Skripka said that it is unfair to smear them each arsenic hardened criminals. Some were expelled from Russia for lacking due paperwork. Others person had their Russian citizenship revoked.

Their treatment, Skripka argues, goes beyond bureaucratic injustice; it raises superior ineligible and motivation questions.

“They were beaten, pushed from different state by the tube of a machinegun … they are victims of warfare crimes,” Skripka said.

Further complicating things, galore of the deportees deficiency the due documentation.

Ukraine has been issuing “white passports” – exigency documents to let citizens to question location – but these lone past for 30 days.

Some Ukrainian politicians person spoken out.

Writing connected X, formerly known arsenic Twitter, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of “weaponizing the deportation of Ukrainian citizens done Georgia”.

Russia is weaponizing the deportation of Ukrainian citizens done Georgia. We suggest that Russia transport them straight to the Ukrainian borderline instead.

Since June, Russia has importantly accrued the fig of deported Ukrainian nationals, mostly erstwhile convicts, to the…

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) July 19, 2025

“We are actively moving with the Georgian and Moldovan sides to get the remainder of our radical transited to Ukraine,” helium wrote.

“To debar further complications, we publically connection Russia to nonstop these categories of Ukrainian citizens straight to the Ukrainian border. We volition beryllium prepared to instrumentality them connected from there. There are applicable parts of the borderline wherever this tin beryllium done.”

A substance of nationalist security

Once detainees person returned to Ukraine, they indispensable acquisition a thorough information check.

“They were successful Russia for a agelong time. Everything is possible. They could person been recruited [by Russian intelligence]. This is simply a substance of nationalist information for Ukraine,” Skripka explained.

There are besides fears that the fig of deportees volition soar successful the coming months arsenic determination are hundreds of Ukrainians who are inactive waiting successful Russian deportation camps.

“According to our calculations, determination are astir 800 people. And if they are each brought to Georgia, it volition beryllium a disaster,” Skripka warned.

Meanwhile, successful March, an edict issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin demands that Ukrainians surviving successful the territories claimed by Moscow indispensable either leave oregon accept Russian citizenship by September 10. This could perchance pb to wide deportations.

Lopata, meanwhile, can’t hold to leave, though not needfully home.

“My location successful Ukraine has been bombed. My parents person been killed, and I don’t cognize wherever to go,” helium said.

“I conscionable truly privation to get retired of present immoderate mode I can.”