NPR

Europe welcomes Ukrainian refugees but others, less so

The hospitality greeting Ukrainians fleeing the violence in their native country has highlighted the stark differences in treatment given to migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

BARCELONA, Spain — They file into neighboring countries by the hundreds of thousands — refugees from Ukraine clutching children in one arm, belongings in the other. And they're being heartily welcomed, by leaders of countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania.

But while the hospitality has been applauded, it has also highlighted stark differences in treatment given to migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa, particularly Syrians who came in 2015. Some of the language from these leaders has been disturbing to them, and deeply hurtful.

"These are not the refugees we are used to... these people are Europeans," Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told journalists earlier this week, of the Ukrainians. "These people are intelligent, they are educated

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