Just 760 visas have been granted to desperate Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion - despite 22,000 applications, a top Tory has admitted.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps defended the UK's record in welcoming refugees from the brutal conflict amid mounting criticism that the scheme is too slow.
Mr Shapps insisted that Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky had told the UK that he wants his people not to travel too far from their homeland so they can return.
The number of people fleeing Russian bombardment has exceeded 2 million, according to the UN.
The Home Office has come under fire for failing to follow other European countries who have waived strict visa rules for Ukrainian refugees.
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Desperate Ukrainians trying to get to Britain visas were told to travel to Brussels or Paris to make their applications, with a pop-up centre being set up in Lille - some 70 miles away from Calais.
Setting out the latest visa figures, Mr Shapps told Sky News: "No country has given more humanitarian aid to Ukraine than the UK, in the world.
"We have given £400 million, in addition the British people have been incredibly generous as well.
"Geographically we are, of course, spaced further to the West and President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government have told me that they do not want people to move far away, if at all possible, from the country because they want people to be able to come back.
"We are really leaning into this, at the same time respecting Ukraine's wishes, the government's wishes, not to pull people a long way away from Ukraine."
Asked if he was embarrassed by the situation, he said: "We want everything to work smoothly, absolutely, of course. I'm sure there's always lessons to be learned in these things.
"But you are dealing with a war situation - funnily enough (Vladimir) Putin didn't put much consideration into what would happen to refugees out of this war."
But Labour's Yvette Cooper blasted the Government, saying: "People shouldn't be treated like this."
Boris Johnson has appointed a new Refugee Minister to get a grip on the situation after days of chaos.
Former Tory MP Richard Harrington was handed a life peerage in order to hold the Government post.
Meanwhile, the UK has ramped up aviation sanctions to make it a criminal offence for Russian planes to enter UK airspace.
Mr Shapps told airports he can order them to detain Russian aircraft and has the power to order the Civil Aviation Authority to terminate registration of planes owned by sanctioned individuals.
The ownership of one plane at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire in under investigation, he confirmed.
It comes after President Zelensky gave an impassioned address to the UK Parliament on Tuesday where he echoed Sir Winston Churchill's wartime address.
"We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost," Mr Zelensky told MPs.
"We will fight in the forest, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets."
