The Home Secretary says the Government is "working on" helping refugees from Ukraine to come to the UK despite ruling out a visa waiver for those fleeing the conflict with Russia.
Priti Patel reiterated statements about safeguarding "our public and our people" from "Putin's Russia" in an interview on ITV's Peston on Monday night, adding that "further changes" will be announced in the coming days to help
who have left or want to leave the country amid Russia's invasion.
Ms Patel said: “This is absolutely a phased approach around humanitarian support for the people of Ukraine. So this isn’t just about what we do on visas and our policy, this is much wider than that.
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“So over the last weeks we’ve been focused on getting British nationals out of Ukraine, we’ve changed all sorts of things in terms of visas and prioritisation of cases. That’s the first aspect to this.
“Our policies are evolving – this is changing, this is a very fluid and dynamic situation. And in fact there will be further changes and announcements that we’ll be making in the next few days as well.”
Speaking in Warsaw on Tuesday, Boris Johnson said more would be done to allow Ukrainians to come to the UK, with around 200,000 eligible under an expanded route for people to bring family members in.
He said: “What we are going to do is we are extending the family scheme so that actually very considerable numbers would be eligible … you could be talking about a couple of hundred thousand, maybe more.
“Additionally, we are going to have a humanitarian scheme and then a scheme by which UK companies and citizens can sponsor individual Ukrainians to come to the UK.”
The UN is planning for four million refugees if the conflict does not end shortly. Ukraine has ordered male adults up to the age of 60 to remain in the country and be prepared to fight. Those leaving are said to be mostly women and children.
The Home Secretary is under pressure to do more to help Ukrainians, amid criticism the UK is falling short compared to the measures put forward by the EU and its 27 member countries.
According to UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, 520,000 refugees from Ukraine have so far fled to neighbouring countries and the number keeps rising.
The UN is planning for up to four million refugees in the coming weeks if the conflict doesn’t end, he said.
“We know that we are not even scratching the surface to meet the needs of Ukrainians,” he told an emergency Security Council meeting.
Earlier on Monday, Ms Patel told MPs in the Commons she was following the “strongest security advice” as she rejected the call to scrap the need for visas.
“Over the weekend I have seen members of this House calling for full visa waivers for all Ukrainians,” Ms Patel said.
“Security and biometric checks are a fundamental part of our visa approval process worldwide and will continue, as they did for the evacuation of people from Afghanistan.
“That is vital to keep British citizens safe and to ensure that we are helping those in genuine need, particularly as Russian troops are now infiltrating Ukraine and merging into Ukrainian forces.
“Intelligence reports also state the presence of extremist groups and organisations who threaten the region but also our domestic homeland.
“We know all too well what Putin’s Russia is willing to do, even on our soil, as we saw through the Salisbury attack.”
She added: "I must emphasise this, we are working with the Ukrainian government because primarily you know people want to stay in the region.
"We have to work and give people support in-region that want to stay. And for those that want to come to the United Kingdom we are absolutely working on this right now."
Around 100,000 Ukrainians will be able to "seek sanctuary" in the UK during the first phase of a "bespoke humanitarian route", Ms Patel said.
The Government has already announced measures allowing people who are settled in the UK to be able to bring their Ukrainian immediate family members to join them.
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