The Biden administration may be preparing to expedite the process of resettling at-risk Ukrainians including activists, journalists, and LGBTQI+ folks into the United States, through a plan that’s expected to be announced this week.

Humanitarian groups have been advocating for the administration to protect Ukranians' access to live and work in the US, and to prevent past instances of inadequate access to assistance, family reunification and status, NBC News reports.

“Since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, more than 3 million Ukrainians have fled their homes. The U.S. has pledged to help them, but so far thousands are reported to have resorted to trying to cross the U.S. southern border to claim asylum — a dangerous process that does not guarantee a safe passage or permanent protections,” NBC reports.

With Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, the unfolding human rights catastrophe holds exacerbated life-threatening risks for activists, journalists and LGBTQI+ people, as detailed in a letter suggesting a “Kill List” targeting them, sent by the US State Department to the United Nations.

Russia is infamous for its human rights abuses against LGBTQI+ folks. In 2013 President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning the spread of LGBTQ+ “propaganda” to minors, after which crimes targetting folks for their percieved queerness doubled.

Meanwhile, the systemic violence that attempts to strip transgender people’s right to self-determination is translating into assault and life-threatening consequences for women at Ukraine’s border.

Despite slight progress, trans folks in the country have still been required to “undergo outpatient psychiatric examinations that could easily transition to inpatient hospitalization” to access their identity documents, HRW reports.

This medicalization of transness, which reduces everyone to their bodies through the lens of sensationalized controversy, is now being enforced at Ukraine’s borders.

The country’s marital law, which bans adult men from leaving the country, is being imposed by border guards onto women who are trans, increasingly putting their lives at risk as Russia’s invasion into Ukraine escalates.

While Ukraine has a long way to go in recognizing queer and trans folks’ right to live, advocates seem to agree that the country had been moving towards some progress.