Ukrainian police detained 28 Vietnamese nationals found roaming in the town of Hlevakha on Wednesday.
Early in the morning of October 24, Hlevakha citizens called the police to report a large group of foreigners asking for food around town, the Kyiv Post reported. Officers arrived at the scene and subsequently took 28 people away.
Kyiv Oblast National Police spokesperson Mykola Zhukovych said the arrested were Vietnamese citizens who entered Ukraine in the summer. They were meant to be smuggled into a European Union country illegally with the help of a Ukrainian people-smuggler.
Zhukovych added the Ukrainian was beaten up by the Vietnamese after failing to provide them with sufficient food for weeks.
The Vietnamese, who were wearing tee shirts and shorts in the cold weather, were given food and clothes. The local trafficker was also arrested on the same day on kidnapping charges.
Serhiy Gunko of the State Migration Service said the Vietnamese will be deported after the Service determines how they entered Ukraine illegally.