Ukrainian refugees will be allowed to stay in Britain for up to three years as the Government partially bowed to pressure to ease entry requirements today.
The Home Office expanded on the previous limit of 12 months as Home Secretary Priti Patel visited a border crossing between Poland and Ukraine to see thousands of refugees fleeing the advance of Vladimir Putin’s army.
Ministers had been under pressure to act to make it easier for Ukrainians to be brought to the UK. An initial visa offer restricted to immediate family was widened earlier this week to include parents, grandparents and siblings, with applications opening today.
Ms Patel flew to Poland to launch the Ukraine family scheme to allow Britons and those settled in the UK to bring their relatives to the UK to join them.
Arriving in a blacked out Mercedes she was whisked up to the frontier and into a holding centre where she was shown the sheer heartbreak of what was taking place by Polish interior minister Bartosz Grodecki.
Huddled together, some under blankets, hundreds of women and children were trying to keep warm at the Medyka crossing in Poland as temperatures hovered around zero with a biting wind whistling through.
Charities were handing out hot food and drinks to the refugees many who had been waiting more than 12 hours to cross as the number arriving in Poland alone topped 700,000 with a million expected by early next week.
The Home Office expanded on the previous limit of 12 months as Home Secretary Priti Patel visited a border crossing between Poland and Ukraine to see thousands of refugees fleeing the advance of Vladimir Putin’s army.
Arriving in a blacked out Mercedes she was whisked up to the frontier and into a holding centre where she was shown the sheer heartbreak of what was taking place by Polish interior minister Bartosz Grodecki.
Speaking at the border Ms Patel said: ‘I’ve come to see what is really quite a remarkable operation here in terms of receiving people from Ukraine mainly women and children, who are fleeing what is the most atrocious set of circumstances where they are being persecuted by President Putin.
‘This is very much in terms of standing in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and our friends here in Poland to see what the work are doing and to see how we can support Poland much more in terms of helping those Ukrainians with links to the UK and to see how we can get those to come to Britain.
‘We are launching our new family extension route today to enable Ukrainian families with links to the UK to come over to Britain.
‘That scheme is now live and up and running. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine and our dear friends here in Poland who are working night and day under incredible circumstances and we can all see this.’
Earlier MailOnline heard from one refugee fleeing war torn Ukraine by train who described how passengers been ordered to switch off their phones in cases Russia tracks their signal and targets them.
More than a million people – mainly woman and children – have fled since the start of Putin’s onslaught last week which has left thousands dead.
Many have fled the fighting onboard special trains that have run between the capital Kyiv via the so far still safe western city of Lviv which has a rail connection onwards to Poland.
Among those crossing today was beauty technician Sasha Slupova, 30, and her son Danil, five, who had made a 18 hour journey from Dnipro in central Ukraine. Holding back tears she cuddled her son and said: ‘The journey was hell. I’ve never experienced anything like that and my son Danil shouldn’t have to live like this.
‘The train was packed with women and children and they told us to turn our phones off because the signals could give our position away.
‘The guards were worried the Russians would hit the train so said all phones and IPads had to be shut down. They were really scared it would happen.’
Sasha, who is separated from Danil’s father, described how she had taken him to see his dad before fleeing and making her way to Poland where she now intends to go to Germany.
She added:’Danil was in tears. He sees his father every week but now who knows when he will see him again. ‘He’s supposed to start school in September but who knows if we will be back by then. I’ve explained to him what is happening and all he wants to know is when he can see his friends and father again.’
Also crossing was Svetlana Okrksyi, 29, who had travelled from Lviv after leaving family behind and being told to get to safety.
Svetlana said: ‘Where we are in Lviv has been ok so far but who knows what will happen in the next few weeks. ‘The sirens go off every couple of hours and there is talk of saboteurs in the city. Everyone is on edge.
‘People are making petrol bombs to defend themselves with after the mayor issued an order saying everyone had a responsibility to do their duty.’
Following them over the board was kids tennis coach Anna Klishchevska, 52, and her mother Larisa Kiriluk, 79, who collapsed as she made it over the border and needed First Aid assistance.
Breaking down in tears Anna said: ‘I had to leave Kyiv because my flat was shaking all the time with the bombs. Boom, boom and my flat rocked from side to side.
‘My sister in still in Kyiv with two small boys aged four and three, they are terrified but they couldn’t get out. Why is this happening to us ? it’s not fair. Putin must stop and get out of Ukraine now.
‘The situation is terrible, I teach kids tennis, that’s what I have done and all I want to do but instead I have to run for my life with my mother across Ukraine to escape Russian killers.’
