Photo Gallery The Eastern Route to Europe

Most asylum seekers trying to make their way to Europe take the dangerous route across the Mediterranean. But the eastern route via Ukraine is likewise popular. The EU has provided money to Kiev to improve their border patrols and to built internment centers. Here, two Ukrainian border guards patrol along the Ukraine-Romania border in 2009.

Hasan Hirsi, of Somalia, spent years in internment sites in Ukraine on his path to Germany. He eventually succeeded, but he says that he was beaten and tortured while in the hands of the Ukrainians. His stories are consistent with those of other asylum seekers as well.

A Ukrainian border guard on the border with Romania. Ukraine has received millions from the EU as Brussels has sought to stop the flood of refugees from even reaching the EU's outer borders.