War after war: Yemenis in Ukraine face familiar horrors as conflict forces them to flee once more

People who fled civil war in Yemen seven years ago and started new lives in Ukraine now fear for their future again as Russia’s onslaught escalates, reports Charlene Rodrigues

A group of Yemeni students who fled Ukraine into Poland seen at the border with Yemeni ambassador to Poland and Ukraine, Dr Mervat Mojali (Yemen Embassy in Poland /Twitter)

After spending another night huddled in an underground bomb shelter in Kharkiv’s metro station as Russian shelling intensifies in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Yemeni student Khaled Bin Jaah returned to his flat only to find his building surrounded by fire and smoke as fighting raged in the streets.

“Now the situation is very dangerous,” he told The Independent by phone on Wednesday, as Russia’s invasion entered its seventh day.

Mr Bin Jaah shared photos taken from his flat that showed a fire on a nearby street and said shrapnel had shattered his windows.