Content area
Full text
Growing up in Ukraine, Arsen Mednik often found himself singled out – at school children would point at him, calling him “gypsy”, while employers were often reluctant to hire him when they learned he was Roma.
But in early 2022, as Russian forces began their savage occupation of his home town of Bucha, Mednik was among the first Ukrainian Roma to volunteer in the defence of the country.
“My only thought was that I wanted to defend people,” he said. “The Russians weren’t paying attention to who was Roma or Ukrainian. They just killed everyone.”
The 34-year-old is among the many Roma people on the frontlines of the war on Ukraine, risking their lives despite their own personal experiences of marginalisation and wider concerns over whether they will have a place in the country when the war ends.
Exact figures of how many from the community are fighting are hard to come by, but it is estimated that there are a few thousand, said Stephan Müller, an adviser on international affairs with the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.
The actual number among the country’s estimated 400,000 Roma could be even higher – a recent survey of 143 Roma in Ukraine by the Roma Foundation for Europe found that a quarter of respondents had relatives on the frontlines. Of these, a third were volunteers.
It’s a remarkable contribution given that Roma, whose roots in Ukraine trace back centuries, rank among the country’s most discriminated against, complicating their access to decent housing, jobs, healthcare and schooling.
In the years before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Roma were targeted regularly by far-right groups, resulting in the deaths of at least two people...