Ukraine’s ambassador in London has estimated “at least” 100,000 refugees could come to the UK, as he urged ministers to temporarily drop visa requirements.
Vadym Prystaiko said around 50-60,000 Ukrainians were currently living in Britain, but stressed those fleeing the Russian invasion would prefer to stay in Eastern European countries.
“I guess that people will unite with their families, and if you have 50-60,000 of them, I would expect 100,000 — at least — to come here to their relatives,” he told MPs.
“Some of them just members of families of your citizens, who have no Ukrainian blood, but for different reasons their connections establish themselves. This is a good basic number we should start working with”.
Mr Prystaiko — appointed Ukraine’s ambassador in the UK in 2020 — added he understood the checks required by the British government, but said: “We also believe some bureaucratic procedures could be simplified”.
“At particular times drastic measures should be taken. I believe something like dropping everything (all visa checks) could be considered.”
His intervention comes as the Home Office faces intense pressure over the current system, with only 760 visas so far granted despite tens of thousands of applications to the special family route.
Asked about lifting the requirements of visas altogether — as some European countries have done — the ambassador told the Home Affairs Committee: “That would definitely resolve all the issues.
“But how reasonable, how justified it is with your own system, that’s frankly for you to decide,” he said.
“We will be happy if all the barriers are dropped for some period of time when we can get maximum (numbers) of people, then we will deal with that.”
Mr Prystaiko added his officials would help deal with refugees if the visa rules were lifted, saying: “If you can vote for some temporary releasing of us from these rules, to allow people to get here, we will take care of (them).
“I don’t expect many of them to come. I don’t want to see these pictures of people banging at the doors in Calais and scratching the doors which are quite sealed.”
The ambassador expressed frustration at the hurdles Ukrainians have “always” had to go through to obtain UK visas, adding that his own wife once faced a delay in getting her visa despite the nature of his job.
“It has always been a bureaucratic hassle to process [UK] visas. I have to tell you that once when I was coming here [...] although I was already approved by your government for half a year, my wife didn’t get hers. Even simple things like that bureaucracy is so tough,” he told MPs.
“I know you have strict immigration policies, but all Europeans also have them.”
Mr Prystaiko also suggested that fighter jets would be more useful than sending a plane to collect refugees to bring to Britain.
Asked whether he would like to see a plane travel to Poland or Romania to bring back refugees, Mr Prystaiko told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: “If you want to send planes, send F-16s.”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
