Hopes for the future as 52 orphaned Ukrainian children head to UK after escaping horrors of war

ITV News Correspondent Peter Smith talks to some of the Ukrainian children who have expressed excitement at the prospect of calling the UK their new homes

This week will be the beginning of a new life for 52 orphaned children from Ukraine. With the support of British-based charities Dnipro Kids and Save A Child UK, they will finish the final leg of their journey to safety having escaped the war in their homeland. 12 year-old Katya will be among their number. “I heard it’s a beautiful country,” she told me. “We are excited to see it because it’s something new for us. Maybe the UK will be our new home.”

When Russia invaded, it was UK charity workers who risked their own lives to get coaches in and out of Ukraine.

They reached five orphanages in the city of Dnipro, and carried the vulnerable children and their carers to safe haven in Poland. Duncan MacRae, media manager at the Dnipro Kids charity, told me, “It was very complex to get everyone out from Dnipro to Lviv then over the border into Poland.” “Getting the paperwork for the [UK] visas was that final piece of the puzzle, and they will be picking up their visas [on Monday].” There has been pressure on the the UK to process these children with greater urgency.

But Sally Becker from Save a Child UK - with 30 years’ experience taking children out of war zones - told me the delay was a vital part of child protection. “I don’t think they could possibly have done this any quicker,” she told me. “It was a Herculean effort.” The hope is, for these children, the wait will be worth it. They already have a place to live near Loch Lomond in Scotland, where all 52 can stay together. From so much misery, this evacuation mission is a triumph of kindness.

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