2.3m flee Ukraine as Scotland moves to offer refuge

Scotland has vowed to provide refuge for 3,000 Ukrainian refugees under plans unveiled by Holyrood yesterday.

Tomorrow the UK Government will detail a new sponsorship scheme allowing Ukrainians without family in Britain to enter the country more easily. The scheme will be unveiled after days of criticism of the UK Government’s slow response to the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since Second World War as 2.3 million Ukrainians flee.

The Scottish Government has now offered to sponsor 3,000 refugees while Wales has offered to vouch for 1,000. Nicola Sturgeon said: “We are still awaiting full details of the proposed community sponsorship scheme. If the UK Government is still unwilling to waive visa requirements, it is essential this scheme allows people to come to the UK as quickly as possible.

“However, I am very worried that if people have to be matched with an individual sponsor before even being allowed entry to the UK, it will prove slow and cumbersome. That is why the First Minister of Wales and I have made the ‘super sponsor’ proposal. We are proposing our governments act as initial ‘super sponsors’ to allow large numbers to come to our respective nations quickly. Once they are here, we will work with local partners to match people with longer-term accommodation.”

Meanwhile, a ­former prime minister of Ukraine has said red tape holding up refugees from reaching the UK could be distracting husbands and fathers left behind to fight Russian forces as they worry about the safety of their families.

Volodymyr Groysman, Ukraine’s premier between 2016 and 2019, said Ukraine was very grateful for everything the UK was doing to help but said he was aware of some “technical difficulties” with refugees from Ukraine getting visas.

“If there is a ­possibility to cut this red tape for Ukrainians and to help those people of course it will be welcome.

“Each father or each husband now holding arms in his hands, he is really distracted from this war with the fact if he hears there are some kind of technical difficulties which his family is suffering.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel has come under sustained criticism from MPs for her response to the Ukraine refugee crisis and the insistence on visa requirements.

She finally announced on Thursday people would be able to apply online for a visa and would no longer have to go to a processing centre to give their biometrics.