The Verkhny Lars border checkpoint. Photo: Davit Kachkachishvili / Anadolu Agency / Abaca Press / ddp images / Vida Press
A group of Ukrainian former prisoners and other citizens who have been stuck in a basement in a buffer zone at the Verkhny Lars crossing on the Russian-Georgian border for much of the summer have been evacuated due to a landslide, independent media outlet The Insider reported on Thursday.
Some of the group told Novaya Gazeta Europe that border guards had used physical force against them and withheld food during the evacuation.
One of the Ukrainians told Novaya Europe that they were taken out of the basement on Thursday evening and moved to an undisclosed location on three buses. Due to overcrowding, many had to stand for hours or sit on the floor.
“There was no food at all, and we didn’t even get a chance to buy any. Volunteers wanted to see us, but were not allowed. Basically, we’re being kept in the dark. There are armed staff who scare the living daylights out of us,” one man told Novaya Europe, adding that border guards took one of the Ukrainians off the bus and hit him on the ribs with a baton. When some of the other men began filming on their phones, rocking the bus and shouting, the guards brought the Ukrainian man back onto the bus.
The same man told Novaya Europe that many of the people who had been held in the basement had still not received any medical care, including a man who cut his own throat two weeks ago.
According to The Insider, the evacuation is likely only to be a temporary measure, and the group may well be returned to the basement when the situation is more secure. The current humanitarian crisis at the border crossing has been ongoing since June, with the men packed into a cramped space with no fresh air and little in the way of normal food or medical care.
Volunteers say that the basement at the border has been housing Ukrainians who have been refused entry into Georgia for lack of documents since at least 2023. According to latest estimates, the basement houses about 90 Ukrainians, including former prisoners who had served prison sentences in Russia and people deported from occupied parts of Ukraine for refusing to accept Russian citizenship or cooperate with the authorities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in July that diplomatic efforts were being made to organise the return of the Ukrainians stuck on the border back to Ukraine.
