Afro-Ukrainians


Afro-Ukrainians or Black Ukrainians are Ukrainians of Sub-Saharan African descent, including Black people who have settled in Ukraine.

History

In 2012, Gaitana, by then "the only Afro-Ukrainian celebrity in her country", represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2019, Zhan Beleniuk became the first Afro-Ukrainian member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

Nehr

The Ukrainian word nehr is widely used and is a nativized loan word from the, itself a nativized loan from the and the. Although nègre is considered offensive in French, nehr/''неɾр is not considered offensive. The native Slavic word for things that are actually black is chórnyy''.

Population

The African Council estimates that 30,000 Africans live in Ukraine.

Notable Afro-Ukrainians