From Russia with lust.

Russian soldiers poised to invade Ukraine have bombarded women on the other side of the border with Tinder messages Tuesday, according to the Sun.

Dasha Synelnikova&#;s app lit up with matches from soldiers named Andrei, Alexander, Gregory, Michail and &#;Black&#; some 20 miles away, the report said.

“I actually live in Kyiv but changed my location settings to Kharkiv after a friend told me there were Russian troops all over Tinder,&#; Synelnikova, a year-old video producer, told the outlet.

Many would-be paramours reportedly flirted with treachery as they gave away their military positions while forces assembled north of Kharkiv prepared for what appeared to be an imminent attack, according to Ukrainian military intelligence officials.

“One muscular guy posed up trying to look sexy in bed posing with his pistol. Another was in full Russian combat gear and others just showed off in tight stripy vests,&#; Synelnikova told the British paper.

“I didn’t find any of them attractive and would never consider sleeping with the enemy. I automatically swiped left to reject them, but there were so many I got curious and got into a message exchange,&#; the Ukrainian woman continued.

“It was funny but scary at the same time, knowing that they were so close.”

Synelnikova swapped messages with Andrei, 31, whose pictures showed him clutching his Kalashnikov rifle in full combat gear and helmet, the report said.

When she asked him if he had &#;plans to visit,&#; the soldier played it cool and said he wasn&#;t allowed in the country since the annexation of Crimea in

When Synelnikova pressed him on whether he was a soldier, Andrei shared a goofy GIF of Jim Carrey that appeared to be an admission that she was on to him, according to the article.

&#;Black,&#; a year-old bearded Chechen fighter, showed off his sensitive side as he displayed a picture of him cuddling a kitten alongside a pistol-clutching selfie, the report said.

Alexander, 29, posed in his beret as Gregory, 25, showed off his military watch, pictures showed.

Another Tinder match was hoping Synelnikova would be enchanted by espionage as he told her he worked in the “Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.”

The love bombing came before Russian troops were ordered to turn off their phones, according to the outlet.

“These guys are just the same as anyone else on Tinder — they want love or companionship,&#; Synelnikova reportedly said.

“So it’s kind of hard to imagine that they could be coming here to attack us. I hope it won’t happen.”

"Racism has its unique trend on former Soviet Union soil," according to Terrell Starr, independent scholar, New York, who discussed his research as a Fulbright scholar in Ukraine at a 2 May Kennan Institute event. In particular, Starr focused on the experiences of African-Ukrainian women.

As a journalist, Starr used a multimedia approach to collecting information about the African-Ukrainian community. Eventually, the research Starr collected culminated in a photo exhibition he produced, which consisted of a photojournalism exhibit of his interview subjects' experiences. The speaker explained that the first part of his research was a four-part "immersion interview" session, which included questions designed to allow interviewees to explore the issues of race and identity in their own context. Starr asked subjects about their experiences as African-Ukrainians while attending Ukrainian schools; their parents' influence on their childhood; their relationship with religion and spirituality; and the impact of their social networks. "It was the first time anyone had asked them in-depth" about their experiences, Starr explained.

Ultimately, the subject matter of Starr's "immersion interview" discouraged some people from participating in his research. Specifically, the speaker noted that African-Ukrainian men would not speak to him, as they did not want to share things about their lives that were painful. Thus, Starr's research developed into a study of African-Ukrainian women's experiences in Ukraine.

Starr focused on the experiences of one interviewee in particular: Angelina Diash, a university student of Angolan and Ukrainian descent. Born and raised in Ukraine, the speaker explained that although Diash viewed other Ukrainians as her fellow citizens, the feeling was not always reciprocated. "Although I have a passport that shows I'm Ukrainian, I need a 'social visa,'" Starr recalled her saying. Similar to other subjects Starr interviewed, Diash developed a sense of self-reliance at an early age to cope with being a minority in her own country. However, Diash also developed a strong sense of self-identity because of her difference in appearance. When a person is constantly singled out by race, Starr emphasized, "you grow to know who you are very quickly."

The subject of race in general—as it pertains to Slavic society—is discussed openly and honestly in Ukraine, more so than race is discussed in America, in Starr's opinion. "I am very quick to defend the Ukrainians for their honesty when it comes to such personal experiences of race," Starr said. Despite the degree of openness Starr observed while conducting his research, he also learned that racism and xenophobia are on the rise in Ukraine. Indeed, Starr's research had a personal impact for him; the speaker—who is of African-American descent—explained that he was stopped by Ukrainian police 29 times during his stay in Kyiv. Although the presence of racism and xenophobia is increasing in Ukrainian society, Starr asserted that improvement is not unfathomable; however, he noted that effective social change must come from above. "What I found in Ukraine," Starr concluded, "is that you have to find a combination of political leaders who actually try to deal with the problem."

By Amy Shannon Liedy
Blair Ruble, Director, Kennan Institute

By RAFAL NIEDZIELSKI and JAMEY KEATEN

PRZEMYSL, Poland (AP) &#; While over 3 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia&#;s invasion, a small but growing number are heading in the other direction. At first they were foreign volunteers, Ukrainian expatriate men returning to fight and people delivering aid. Now, increasingly, women are also going back.

Motivated by a desire to help loved ones in trouble, or to contribute to the defense and survival of their country and compatriots in ways large and small, these women are braving the bombs that have increasingly pounded Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb.

Many are not refugees but Ukrainian women who had been living and working abroad. Others had already chosen to stay put in their country but were forced to cross the border to shop for needed goods as supplies dried up under the onslaught at home.

&#;I will go back and help. I am a health worker, so the hospitals need help,&#; said Iryna Orel, 50, lugging her luggage as she boarded a train from Przemysl, Poland, to Lviv in western Ukraine. &#;And I will stay until the end.&#;

With Ukraine&#;s government ordering men to stay and fight, the vast majority of people fleeing Ukraine have been women, children and the elderly. For those who can&#;t or won&#;t leave, the perils they face are many, and images such as those of a mortally wounded pregnant woman rushed on a stretcher from a maternity hospital in Mariupol testify to the dangers.

Still, some women have chosen to head back toward the gunfire and bloodshed to contribute in whatever way they can.

Reached by phone after arriving in the port city of Odesa, which has so far remained under Ukrainian government control, Orel said she was frightened at first by the air raid sirens and sounds of explosives, but &#;sitting and shaking with fear does not help.&#;

She envisions her role as providing medical care, but other women might choose to help defend the country militarily, she said.

&#;Women can fight,&#; she said. &#;Many women are patriotic to defend Ukraine &#; why not?&#;

Women rushing into war zones or taking part in war efforts is nothing new. Female soldiers were a visible part of the Ukrainian military before the war, including in combat roles. Some women, like many men, are taking up arms for the first time. Plus, gender equality in the workplace as well as the military has traditionally been more common in post-Soviet states like Ukraine than many other parts of the world.

Since the invasion, Polish border guards have tallied over , crossings of people from Poland to Ukraine, more than four in five Ukrainian nationals, spokeswoman Anna Michalska said Tuesday. That includes people who come and return &#; to buy food and other supplies in Poland and go back, or who bring relatives across and return. So some people are counted a number of times.

Poland has taken in more than million refugees &#; over 60% of the total exodus of 3 million people since the invasion, according to U.N. agencies. The U.N. refugee agency had initially predicted some 4 million refugees would flee &#; a figure that may soon be eclipsed.

&#;What to say, really? Three million refugees in the space of just over two weeks. This is frightening and it doesn&#;t stop,&#; the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said in an interview in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he was visiting to assure Afghans that despite the horrors of the war raging in Ukraine they have not been forgotten.

&#;Everybody&#;s asking how many refugees will come out of Ukraine,&#; he said. &#;The answer is very simple: I simply don&#;t know.&#;

Aid deliveries are making their way into Ukraine, as well as reported flows of weapons and fighters ready to use them. The International Committee for the Red Cross said tons of medical supplies and relief items had arrived in the country, including water, mattresses, blankets, food, first aid kits, plastic tarps and more than 5, body bags.

Less noticed has been the entry or cross-border shuttling of women who are either trying to bring help or stay in the country to continue their lives as best they can.

&#;I am returning to Ukraine to help people evacuate,&#; said Maria Khalica, who lives in Italy and was headed to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. &#;I am in a more stable state now than my friends, who are under rocket attacks and bombs.&#;

&#;I know that Kyiv is also going to be occupied and we are taking the last chance to help other people&#; there, Khalica said, adding that she believes Russian forces will eventually seize the capital.

Some women are returning to join their families and others to help in any way they can, either as health workers or with the army.

&#;We plan to return to the family and we will decide with the family what to do next&#; said Olga Simanova, 56, who traveled from Germany to return to her family&#;s hometown of Vinnycja.

Meanwhile, the number of those fleeing continues to grow.

James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF, said some million children have fled Ukraine since the invasion &#; or about 73, per day on average.

That, he said, amounts to &#;55 every minute. So we are almost &#; since war started on the 24th of February &#; (at a point where) a child has become a refugee out of Ukraine every second.&#;

They have fled to countries across Eastern Europe: Romania has taken in more than ,, Moldova more than ,, Hungary over , and Slovakia some ,, according to the latest UNHCR tally on Tuesday. The Polish capital of Warsaw, alone, has taken in about , refugees, about a 15% increase of its population of more than million.

&#;These are enormous numbers,&#; said Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, who signed a 10 million-euro ($11 million) agreement with Italy on Tuesday to help with the refugee crisis. &#;The number of refugees represents 4% of the whole Moldovan population.&#;

___

Keaten reported from Geneva. Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland; Vira Loy in Przemysl, Poland; Helena Alves in Chisinau, Moldova; and Kathy Gannon in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.