Children have been rescued from an orphanage in Odessa
(Picture: Tikva)A Londoner rescuing orphans from the horrors of war in Ukraine has hit out at the British Government for not doing enough to accommodate refugees despite the UK’s relative wealth compared to the war-torn eastern European country’s neighbours.
Jeremy Posen, 53, from North London, has helped rescue over a thousand Ukrainians, including newborn babies and 270 orphans, from Odessa and get them across the border to Romania through his charity Tikva, which cares for vulnerable Jewish children in Ukraine.
“I think Europe as a whole has responded quite well to this sudden and colossal challenge. But the numbers of refugees are growing by the day, and unfortunately there is no end to the war in sight.”
He said that “heartbreaking” scenes at border crossings were reminiscent of early eastern European evacuations on the outbreak of the Second World War.
He said: “We spent many days and nights at border crossings which are sadly reminiscent of very dark times in our history.
“Families trudging across the border with just hand luggage, leaving their whole lives behind, as they head to a wholly uncertain future.
“Clearly traumatised children, conscription age males kissing goodbye to their families with no clue if or when they will see them again, all of this in the freezing cold and having spent the previous hours fleeing for their lives.”
He said the full scope of the tragic invasion is “yet to sink in” on the local population.
“One woman who we rescued from Kharkov, a mother of one of the children in our care, came to me distraught and showed me pictures of her badly damaged apartment.
“There was a gaping hole in one wall, windows blown out, furniture shredded and family pictures smashed on the ground, all as the result of bombing or shelling.
“She just kept repeating over and over again, as if in a daze ‘I have nothing left. Nothing. What am I supposed to do now?’
“Unfortunately, that is the case for thousands of people.”
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Mr Posen, who moved to Ukraine from London a couple of years ago to join his childhood friend Rafael Kruskal in running the three orphanages, said the scenes in Ukraine “feel a world away” from the UK capital.
He hailed “generous” Brits after some 100,000 offered their homes to refugees in the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.
He added: “I think the response of the British public has been wonderful but I don’t feel that with this program the government is doing enough and I don’t know how practical the scheme actually is.
“How long will refugees feel comfortable in someone else’s home, often without any money, without a job and facing an uncertain future?
“What will give them a sense of self-worth and how will they practically survive what may be a protracted stay.
“The response was relatively slow, as opposed to the countries bordering Ukraine, and although Britain is, on the whole, a more prosperous country, those countries to the east seem to be shouldering far more of the responsibility with nowhere near the same resources.”
The Government, which has faced criticism for the speed of its response, said 10,200 visas have been issued under the Ukraine family scheme as of 4pm on Sunday.
A total of 31,500 applications have been submitted so far, according to provisional data published on the Home Office’s website.
Around 150,000 people have expressed in an interested in hosting refugees through the Homes for Ukraine programme.
“I’m pleased that we are supporting Ukraine in every single way that we can, whether that’s military aid, humanitarian aid, or indeed providing sanctuary for those that are fleeing Ukraine,” Mr Javid told LBC.
“I expect that we will see hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians arrive here in the UK, and they will get all the support that they need.”
Mr Posen said he had been working to reestablish his schools in Romania this week where 270 actual or “social” orphans are looked after by “an extremely dedicated” team of carers, nannies, medical staff and psychologists.
“We have psychologists onsite to help the children recover from the trauma they have suffered”, he explained.
“We continue to evacuate anyone who requests our assistance in Odessa and beyond, with buses sponsored by Tikva leaving Odessa every day and bringing people to Moldova, where they receive the necessary assistance from a partner organisation.”
CEO of Tikva Odessa in Ukraine, Refael Kruskal added: “There was never a question of splitting our children up. Being all refugees, they wanted to stay as a group. There was also never a question of who out of the staff was going to cross, and who was going to stay. Tikva is about saving lives, and we have given up our personal life to help these children. They are like our own. They are our family.”
Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of shelling residential homes in a Black Sea port city on Monday.
The Odesa city council said no one was killed in the strike, which caused a fire that was quickly put out by emergency services. It was the first such attack on the city since the war began on February 24.
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