A Ukrainian mother and daughter who escaped from their home close to a frontline of the conflict with Russia have been forced to return there due to delays in processing their UK visa applications.
Olha Kachurenko, 43, a nurse and laboratory worker, and her 13-year-old daughter Marharyta fled their home in the southern city of Mykolaiv, not far from Russian-occupied Kherson, on 18 March, a few weeks after the war started.
After reaching Poland they applied for the UK Homes for Ukraine scheme on 23 March.
“We started to hear rumours that the Russians wanted to also attack neighbouring countries so we decided to try to move as far away as possible,” said Olha Kachurenko. “I opened the internet and saw information about the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.”
Lee Mitchell, 49, a Cumbrian property developer, saw their appeal for help and offered to accommodate the mother and daughter.
He said: “I have since been told I was not a suitable sponsor as a single gentleman, so arranged for them to live in a separate property that I own about 45 minutes’ drive away from my home and reapplied for their visas.”
But six months after the start of the war, Kachurenko and her daughter’s visas have still not been approved.
Mitchell initially funded accommodation for the family in Poland, assuming it would only be a few weeks before the visas were approved. But after weeks stretched into months it became more difficult to continue funding the accommodation, and on 30 May the family decided they had no choice but to return to their home on the ninth floor of an apartment block in Mykolaiv.
“I think the UK is a very good country for Ukrainians but our visas have been delayed for a very long time,” Kachurenko said. “There are bombs all around us. I hope and pray that we will get a second chance to leave Mykolaiv and reach safety in the UK.”
Mitchell said: “My grandmother came to the UK from Poland after the second world war so I feel an emotional attachment to the area. I have become close to the family and would never forgive myself if anything happened to them. I wanted to give the family some dignity by offering them a home but instead they’ve ended up back in a war zone.
“They are traumatised and living in terror. The mental stress they are under is unbearable. They are desperate to get to safety and peace. I can get no help or response from the visa people. This has been going on for months. I feel it’s totally inhumane to treat these people so.”
A government spokesperson said: “More than 75,900 people have safely arrived in the UK through our Homes for Ukraine scheme. It is only right we have safeguarding checks in place to ensure the safety of Ukrainians arriving in the UK.”
The problems have arisen at a time when government has admitted it may have to look at alternatives to the hosting scheme to accommodate Ukrainian refugees. Government sources said: “We are currently exploring whether mass accommodation offers may be needed for emergency or longer-term accommodation.”
Kate Brown, the chief executive of the charity Reset Communities and Refugees, which provides a Homes for Ukraine matching, training and support service, said: “Following the initial wave of interest in hosting people from Ukraine, we have seen a drop in the number of new sponsors coming forward. Some sponsors have postponed welcoming people during the school holidays.”
She urged more people to come forward as hosts.
