LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – According to Sajid Javid of Sky News, the UK has awarded 9,500 visas to Ukrainian relatives of British citizens fleeing the Russian invasion.
The government said a week ago that 4,000 visas had been granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme. This scheme allows refugees with relatives in the United Kingdom to apply to remain in the country. It came up on March 4th.
“I think some 9,500 visas have been issued with the hosting a Ukrainian family scheme.” the health secretary stated.
Mr Javid also stated that around 150,000 people in the UK have expressed interest in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which allows those without family ties to host the Ukrainian refugees in their homes for at least six months.
He stated that the matching process has begun. As Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged all men to stay and fight, the majority of the refugees are women and children.
According to the most recent UN figures, 3,389,044 Ukrainians have evacuated the country since Russia invaded, with an estimated ten million having departed their homes.
According to the figures, more than two million of them have moved to Poland.
‘It is proper to conduct security checks because of Russian agents.’
The UK faced criticism for not relaxing security checks on refugees fleeing Ukraine, but Home Secretary Priti Patel stated over the weekend that visa checks would remain in place due to the risk of Russian spies taking advantage of the situation.
“We know the Russians have done that,” Mr Javid said, adding that he supports her viewpoint. They did it in 2018, when I was doing her job, and we watched Russian agents arrive in our nation with a lethal nerve toxin, a chemical weapon, and use it in Salisbury.
“We also know that it resulted in the deaths of people. And Russia played a direct role in this.
They deployed operatives to invade our country and utilised a chemical weapon. As a result, it is reasonable to expect some level of security checks.
“In that location, we also know that extremists and extremist organisations exist. The level of security checks must, of course, be commensurate to the concerns we’re dealing with,” he added.
Residents in the port city of Mariupol have refused to surrender as the invasion enters its fourth week, despite the Russians giving them till Sunday to lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage out of the city on Monday.
Few details were provided about what would happen if the arrangement was rejected, but according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the Russian ministry of defence indicated the city’s leadership may face a military tribunal if they sided with “bandits.”
Despite the fact that at least 2,300 people have died and relief organisations warn that food, water, and electricity are running out, and humanitarian access is constrained due to fighting, Ukraine’s deputy PM and an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor both stated there will be no surrender.
The Russian assault on Kyiv appears to have halted, with Ukrainian soldiers defending Kharkiv and repelling an attack on the eastern city.
Image via Sky News
