Strictly’s Motsi Mabuse issues plea for Black refugees stranded at Ukraine border

‘Strictly’ judge raised awareness among her thousands of followers on social media

Strictly Come Dancing’s Motsi Mabuse has pleaded with people not to forget the Black refugees stranded at the Ukraine border, amid the ongoing Russian invasion.

The United Nations has admitted that some non-Europeans refugees have faced discrimination while trying to flee to safety, after their experiences were dismissed as lies and “Russian disinformation” by online commentators.

Filippo Grandi, the organisation’s High Commissioner for Refugees, acknowledged their plight during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“You have seen reports in the media that there are different treatments – with Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Now our observations, and we possibly cannot observe every single post yet – but our observations is that these are not state policies – but there are instances which it has happened,” he said.

Strictly judge Motsi, a South African-German dancer whose husband is Ukrainian, shared one of the clips circulating on social media, which shows Black students in a room close to the Polish border.

“We’re still stranded, we haven’t eaten, no rest, we were just in the cold for six hours outside,” one woman says. “We’ve been begging, pushing, dragging, it’s been so traumatic just to get into the border and we’re not able to get there.”

“This is happening!” Mabuse wrote on Twitter. “Can we talk about this! Saving people according to their skin colour! #AfricansinUkraine.”

“Don’t forget the Black brothers and sisters at the border,” she added.

Loose Women presenter Charlene White responded yesterday (Tuesday 1 March) to critics who accused her of “playing the race card” with her comments about the Ukraine crisis.

During a discussion on the ITV panel show on Tuesday 1 March, White said: “You’ve got thousands of Black, Asian, Syrian, Arab students and workers who have also been trying to get out of Ukraine and have been prevented from doing so due to the incessant racism that they have experienced.”

She later tweeted: “For those throwing the phrase, ‘playing the race card’ at me today re @loosewomen... let me be VERY clear. You feeling uncomfortable hearing someone talking about race is not my concern, when the concern ought to be directed towards the victims who are subjected to it.”

Follow live updates on the Ukraine-Russia crisis here.