Fifty nationals recently deported from the US arrived in Ukraine via Poland on Monday, according to Ukraine’s State Border Service.
Based on earlier remarks by Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olha Stefanishyna, the 50 nationals are likely part of a group of around 80 Ukrainians that had been slated for deportation over US legal violations
Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Service, confirmed to state media Ukrinform that among “45 men and 5 women were registered at the border,” he said.
However, Demchenko said there have been “different reasons” for their deportation based on their interviews at the border.
“Each of them gave different reasons – these are both violations of migration legislation and other offenses,” he added.
Demchenko told Ukrinform earlier on Tuesday that those deported entered Ukraine via the Shehyny checkpoint on the border with Poland, all of them possessing either documents confirming their Ukrainian citizenship or return certificates that were issued for those without a passport.
It is unclear whether the 50 deportees include 41-year-old Roman Surovtsev, a Ukrainian-born man who immigrated to the United States at age four and served 11 years in prison for burglary and armed carjacking.
According to a Washington Post report, he was slated for deportation on Monday after a court determined that a 2014 ruling for his removal remains valid.