Investigation Launched in Kyiv Region After Racist Harassment of a Nigerian Child

Woman Faces Criminal Inquiry After Racially Abusing Mother and Child at Dance Studio

According to Рубрика — Суспільство: In the settlement of Kriukivshchyna, located in Kyiv Oblast’s Bucha district, a woman unleashed racist insults at a six-year-old Nigerian girl and her mother during a dance and acrobatics class. She insisted the child be barred from training because of her background. Video from the confrontation, widely shared on social media, shows the woman saying:

“Let them go back to their Africa and eat bananas from palm trees. If these people come to our Ukraine in toxic numbers, it will be a catastrophe. We must constantly remind them to leave. They are not Ukrainians.”

Police in the Kyiv region identified the suspect and registered the case in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under Part 1 of Article 161 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. That article carries penalties including a fine of 3,400 to 8,500 hryvnias, restriction of liberty for up to five years, or imprisonment for up to three years.

The clip went viral, drawing hundreds of supportive comments for the affected family. The girl’s mother thanked those who wrote encouraging messages. The episode has stirred broad public debate about the need to tackle racism and discrimination.

This case is one more reminder of the prejudice that minorities still face in Ukraine and elsewhere. It has fueled public outrage and fresh calls for stronger legal protections and a shift in societal attitudes toward race. The wave of solidarity suggests a growing awareness and willingness to stand with victims of discrimination.