A desperate daughter who feared her elderly parents would die while fleeing Ukraine is facing a heartbreaking month-long wait to bring them to live with her in Renfrewshire.
Anna White had no way of knowing if her mum and dad, who are in their 80s, had safely made the 900km journey from their home in Kharkiv to Hungary.
Viacheslav, 84, and Zhanna Malyna, 82, faced the unimaginable tragedy of fleeing their home with no belongings as bomb sirens went off and Russian artillery attacked the city.
The devastated couple witnessed the unimaginable destruction and faced hours long queues of traffic as thousands of people tried to escape.
Their son-in-law had bravely returned to rescue them, having been forced to hide in the basement in fear of being bombed.
Anna, who lives in Bridge of Weir, could do nothing but wait three gruelling days to find out if they had made it alive.
The 48-year-old told the Paisley Express: “I was distraught and I lost hope.
“They were staying with a cousin as their home was on the ground floor and they live on the ninth floor of a 16-floor building.
“So they were able to hide in their basement.
“But no one was really safe there. We didn’t know what was going to happen and where was going to be bombed next.
“The situation became really dangerous last weekend and they knew it was their last chance to get out.
“My brother-on-law drove 900km to rescue them. They didn’t even have time to pack anything.
“It took them eight hours to travel 50 miles because of all the people trying to leave and it took them three days to get to the border.
“My dad is disabled and can hardly walk and my mum has dementia. They crossed the border on foot in the middle of the night.
“They were traumatised and distressed and I could only just wait to find out if they had made it alive.”
Anna immediately flew to Budapest to be with her frail parents and begin the process of bringing them to live with her and her husband Geoff and their daughter Emilia,16.
However, she said this is when the next stage of the nightmare began, and is now facing a month-long stay in a hotel with her parents due to “ridiculous” processes in place by the British Home Office.
Anna first applied for a visa on her parents’ behalf when the rules for refugees fleeing Ukraine stated they did not need an appointment at a visa centre in order to fly to the UK.
However, this changed on March 8, but despite having already applied before the rule change, Anna claims they were informed they now had to have an appointment, with the earliest available on March 23.
The UK Government announced a further change to the rules which comes into force today (March 15) called a Ukraine Family Scheme visa which states Ukrainians with immediate family in the UK do not need a visa and can travel to safety and complete the process once reunited with loved ones.
Anna claims she has been told that as her parents have already applied, this rule does not apply to them and the must wait until March 23 for their original appointment.
“No matter what we did we could not get an appointment,” aid Anna, who is currently living in a single hotel room with her parents, who are both running out of medication.
“I was so distressed that I ended up going down to the visa centre myself and it was worse than I imagined it would be.
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
“The people working there are on the verge of a breakdown dealing with such a high volume of people.
“The person I spoke with told me there had been 22,000 visa applications over four visa centres and at the time only 350 had been processed.”
She added: “When I was there, the announcement came about the changes to the rules again stating that Ukrainians with relatives in the UK did not need to apply.
“But we were told that because we had already made an application we could not use the new system and would need to wait until our appointment.
“This means I will be here until April, which is ridiculous.
“My parents are going to need medication which they cannot get here and I simply cannot afford to stay here for that length of time.
“I just want to get my parents back to our home and look after them.”
Anna said watching the invasion and destruction of her home country in the news was like “losing a loved one”.
Russia began an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014.
It is the largest conventional military attack in Europe since World War II.
So far, it is thought more than 15,000 have died and almost 2,000 people have been injured.
The mum-of-one has lived in Renfrewshire for almost 20 years, but returned to Ukraine regularly to visit her parents.
Her most recent trip took place last summer, with Anna and Emilia spending the school holidays there.
Anna added: “It has been unimaginable to watch what has been happening.
“This is where I was born and where I grew up and went to school and university.
“I have friends here and such a large part of my life was in Ukraine.
“I cannot even describe what the heartbreak is like, seeing what is happening to the country and to the people.
“It is like the death of a loved one. The sheer destruction is devastating.”
She continued: “At the minute we know tha my parents’ home is still standing, but that could change any time.
“They don’t know what they will go back to, if they ever can.”
Anna has slammed the actions of the UK Government for failing to act swiftly enough to help people desperately fleeing danger.
The UK has currently granted 1,000 visas to Ukrainians, with approximately 2.6million people having fled the country since Russia invaded in late February.
The majority of Ukrainian refugees have gone to neighbouring countries, with 1.5million in Poland, 225,000 in Hungary, 80,000 in Germany, 7,500 in France and 20,000 in Italy.
She added: “It is humiliating and cruel what the UK are doing to Ukrainian people.
“It is an absolute disgrace and I don’t know what has to be done to get through to these politicians who are making up these ridiculous rules.
“Other countries have accepted thousands of people and are supplying them with accommodation and food.
“Ukrainian people are dying for the safety of Europe and this is how they are being treated. It is unacceptable.”
The Home Office was unable to give average times for visa processing.
A government spokesperson said: “We have expanded our Visa Application Capacity to 13,000 a week, deployed additional staff across the EU, with a 24/7 helpline in place to ensure those who need appointments can get them to come here.
“This allows us to balance security risks while welcoming those in need.”
