1. BBC
“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed”
– Ukraine’s Deputy Chief Prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze
2. CBS News
“This isn’t Iraq or Afghanistan…This is a relatively civilised, relatively European city”
– CBS foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata
3. Al-Jazeera [not exactly Western, but West-aligned]
“What’s compelling is looking at them, the way they are dressed. These are prosperous, middle-class people. These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from the Middle East…or North Africa. They look like any European family that you’d live next door to.”
– Peter Dobbie, Al Jazeera news presenter.
4. BFM TV (France)
“We are in the 21st century, we are in a European city and we have cruise missile fire as though we were in Iraq or Afghanistan, can you imagine!?”
5. The Daily Telegraph
“They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts… War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.”
– Daniel Hannan
6. ITV (UK)
“The unthinkable has happened…This is not a developing, third world nation; this is Europe!”
7. BFM TV (France) (again)
“It’s an important question. We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing…We’re talking about Europeans.”
8. NBC News
“To put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from Ukraine…These are Christians, they’re white. They’re very similar [to us]”.
– Kelly Cobiella, NBC News Correspondent, explaining why Poland, which was hesitant to take in refugees from West Asia and North Africa, is now accepting refugees.