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Kyiv, Ukraine – At the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced support for Israel, while First Lady Olena Zelenska said Ukrainians understand and “share the pain” of the Israeli people.

Billboards across Kyiv lit up the capital with Israeli flags.

The response reflected a position held by much of Ukrainian society and many Western leaders at the time.

For some people straddling both identities, the early reactions were difficult to watch.

‘Travelling as a Palestinian closes’ doors

Hashem, a Gaza-born medical professional who obtained Ukrainian citizenship after nearly a decade living in the country, said the contrast in how Palestinians and Ukrainians are treated internationally has long been apparent.

“Travelling as a Ukrainian opens doors; travelling as a Palestinian closes them,” he said, describing the stark difference in freedom of movement, visa access and public sympathy attached to each of his identities.

“This is not a competition of suffering, but a question of principle. If human rights are truly universal, they cannot depend on nationality or passport,” said Hashem, who requested Al Jazeera withholds his surname.

A shifting view of Israel

However, as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued and developed into a genocide against Palestinians, some Ukrainians said public opinion gradually shifted.

Yuliia Kishchuk, a Ukrainian researcher who, along with 300 Ukrainian scholars, activists and artists, signed an open letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians, said the engineered starvation of Palestinians in Gaza triggered many to reconsider their view of the conflict.

She said some Ukrainians drew parallels with the Soviet-era famine known as the Holodomor, which is regarded by Kyiv as a deliberate act of genocide by Stalin’s regime.

Kishchuk added that attacks on other countries, such as Syria, challenged the Israeli narrative that it had been simply defending itself against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Pro-Palestinian protests have sprung up in Kyiv while prominent mainstream media journalists and podcasters have begun covering the plight of the Palestinians, she explained.

But Kishchuk said the bombardment of Ukraine’s infrastructure over recent weeks, which has left millions without heating, electricity and water as the country endures a freezing winter, has temporarily halted the burgeoning protest movement.

A shifting view of the US

United States President Donald Trump’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war has left many Ukrainians jaded.

Washington is seen by many as less of a steadfast ally and more as a power willing to treat Ukraine as a resource base, while maintaining a conciliatory posture towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kishchuk said this has meant many now see the US “as an imperial power in Ukraine” compared with the beginning of the war, when they felt “supported and included”.

The signing of a mineral deal which provides Washington with access to valuable rare minerals in Ukraine has also made Ukrainians reflect on how the country is seen as “a resource base … something that connects us to Palestine and to countries in the Global South that are usually perceived in that similar logic by the big empires”, she said.

Kyiv has also shifted its stance towards Palestine, with Zelenskyy publicly saying at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in 2024 that “Ukraine recognises two states, both Israel and Palestine, and will do everything it can to convince Israel to stop, to end this conflict and prevent the suffering of civilians”.

In July 2024, Kyiv sent 1,000 tonnes of wheat flour to the Palestinian territories as humanitarian assistance through its “Grain from Ukraine” initiative.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also openly criticised Israel’s September 2025 attack on Qatar, describing it as a gross violation of international law.

‘War has the same face everywhere’

Aaisha Aroggi, a 25-year-old student from Gaza City, was displaced 10 times in the first months of Israel’s war. She later made it to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, then to Ukraine, where she was granted residency because her brother was living and working in Kyiv.

Compared with the brutal conditions in Gaza, Kyiv felt like a safe haven at first, she said. But now, with constant Russian attacks on infrastructure, she feels she has gone from one place of destruction to another.

“War has the same face everywhere,” she said.

Aroggi said at the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza, people in Ukraine and much of Europe did not understand the Palestinian experience. However, since then, Palestinian platforms and information have spread across the continent.

In Kyiv, students at her university ask about Gaza and show support for the Palestinian cause.

“They really understand what has happened,” she said.

‘In Ukraine, when I speak about Palestine, reactions vary’

Despite these gradual changes, Hashem said, he still sees double standards, “not out of anger toward Ukrainians, but because of the system that decides whose suffering matters more”.

“In Ukraine, when I speak about Palestine, reactions vary. Some people listen and try to understand; others struggle to accept comparisons, often because they have been told for years that the situations are not comparable,” he said.

However, he believes moments of political change have created opportunities for deeper understanding.

Pakistani security forces have killed at least 145 fighters in the restive Balochistan province in a manhunt launched after a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks that left nearly 50 people dead.

The announcement on Sunday came a day after the attacks, which began early on Saturday at multiple locations across southwestern Balochistan and left 31 civilians, including five women, and 17 security personnel dead.

The assault, claimed by the banned separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), prompted authorities to impose months-long security restrictions on the province, banning public gatherings, demonstrations and limiting traffic movement.

The measures also ban the use of face coverings that conceal the identification of individuals in public places, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial chief minister, told reporters in Quetta that troops and police officers responded swiftly to the attacks, killing 145 members of “Fitna al-Hindustan,” a phrase the government uses for the BLA.

The number of fighters killed over the past two days was the highest in decades, he said.

“The bodies of these 145 killed terrorists are in our custody, and some of them are Afghan nationals,” Bugti said. He claimed that the “Indian-backed terrorists” wanted to take hostages, but failed to make it to the city centre.

Pakistan’s military said 92 fighters were killed on Saturday, while 41 were killed on Friday.

“We had intelligence reports that this kind of operation was being planned, and as a result of those, we started pre-operations a day before,” Bugti said.

Bugti also accused Afghanistan of backing the assailants, and said senior leaders of the BLA were operating from Afghan territory.

Both New Delhi and Kabul deny the allegations.

‘Baseless allegations’

In a statement on Sunday, India denied the assertion, accusing Islamabad of deflecting attention from its own internal problems.

“We categorically reject the ‌baseless allegations made by Pakistan,” the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said, adding that Islamabad should instead address the “longstanding demands of its people in the region”.

Balochistan, which is also Pakistan’s poorest province, has faced decades-long violence and separatist attacks by ethnic Baloch seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of the area’s natural resources.

The BLA regularly targets Pakistani security forces and has attacked civilians, including Chinese nationals, who are among thousands working on various projects in the province.

Officials said the latest assaults on Saturday were launched almost simultaneously across the Quetta, ​Gwadar, Mastung and Noshki districts, with armed men opening fire at security installations, including a Frontier Corps headquarters, attempting ‌suicide bombings and briefly blocking roads in urban areas.

Outside a damaged shop, private security guard Jamil Ahmed Mashwani said the attackers struck shortly after midday. “They hit me on my face and head,” he said.

‘Audacious operation’

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from the Baloch capital, Quetta, reported that the BLA targeted at least 12 locations during what he described as an “audacious” operation.

“The attackers were able to strike at the heart of the provincial capital, penetrating the centre of the city while also blocking major highways,” he said.

In Quetta, the aftermath was visible in burnt-out ‍vehicles at a police ⁠station, bullet-riddled doors and streets sealed off with yellow tape, as security forces tightened patrols and restricted movement following the attacks.

Businesses were also forced to shutter, with residents telling Al Jazeera they fear more attacks.

According to Pakistan’s junior interior minister, Talal Chaudhry, the attackers dressed as civilians entered hospitals, schools, banks and markets on Saturday before opening fire,

“In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops,” he said, claiming that the fighters also used civilians as human shields.

Pakistani Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif said that two of the attacks involved female fighters. He noted that the attacks were now increasingly targeting civilians, labourers and low-income communities.

The United States condemned the attacks, with its charge d’affaires, Natalie Baker, calling them acts of terrorist violence and saying Washington stood in solidarity ‍with Pakistan. The BLA is designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation.