Immediate family members will be able to join Ukrainians in UK, PM announces
Boris Johnson has announced that immediate family members will be able to join Ukrainians settled in the UK as they flee the Russian invasion.
The move comes after the government faced intense criticism over failing to relax the visa requirements for Ukrainian nationals earlier this week.
In a statement on Sunday, Downing Street said the measure will “benefit many thousands of people who at this moment are making desperate choices about their future”.
Number 10 also announced that a further £40m of humanitarian aid will be sent to Ukraine to help aid agencies provide necessities and medical supplies in Ukraine and government humanitarian experts will be deployed to the region to support refugees fleeing the violence.
The prime minister said: “In the last days the world has witnessed awe-inspiring displays of bravery and heroism from the Ukrainian people in response to those who seek to obliterate their freedom by force.
“The UK will not turn our backs in Ukraine’s hour of need. We are providing all the economic and military support we can to help those Ukrainians risking everything to protect their country.”
The announcement followed a call between Mr Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier on Sunday, in which the Ukrainian president said the need for humanitarian assistance was critical.
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He said: “We want to be as generous as we possibly can, and certainly we want people who have relatives in Ukraine to be able to bring them over as fast as possible.
“We want to make sure that we have routes for people fleeing disaster, war, persecution in Ukraine to come here and we’re setting aside more to help with the humanitarian crisis in the countries bordering Ukraine, putting another £40 million for medical supplies and immediate help.”
“We will be very generous to the Ukrainians,” he later added.
Pressed on what he means by “very generous” and asked how many people would be accepted, Mr Johnson said: “Well, we will have a system that lets people come when they’re in fear of persecution when they need to… for family reunion or other purposes.”