The detentions were made after local police received a series of calls from residents in Glevakha, a remote town in the Kyiv Oblast Province near Ukraine center, saying that a group of foreigners were looking for food on the streets, the Kyiv Post reported.

The group of Vietnamese citizens had illegally entered Ukraine in the summer and looked as if they were “freezing and hungry,” the report quoted Ukrainian police as saying.

It appears that a Ukrainian citizen was supposed to look for an appropriate chance to transport the Vietnamese into a European Union country through an illegal immigration channel.

While waiting, he kept them locked up in his house for weeks, and failed to provide them with enough food. Desperate, they beat up the local man before escaping and looking for food on the streets, police said.

All 28 Vietnamese citizens were taken to a police station in Kyiv Oblast, where officers gave them food and old police uniforms to keep them warm. Many were dressed only in T-shirts and shorts.

The Ukrainian who had held them in his house was detained the same day and is likely to be charged with kidnapping.

The detained Vietnamese citizens will be transferred to one of Ukraine’s centers for illegal immigrants, police said.

After immigration officers investigate how the Vietnamese citizens entered Ukraine, they will be deported, police said.