Ukrainian academic hits out at Home Office’s resistance to accepting refugees

The Home Office’s “resistance” to accepting people from Ukraine and administrative hurdles are making fleeing families “suffer even more”, a Ukrainian volunteer in Scotland has warned.

Yevgen Gorash who runs the Ukrainian community support group in Glasgow said it was a “major disappointment” that it remains so difficult for refugees to come to the United Kingdom.

A research fellow in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Strathclyde, Mr Gorash spoke with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, at the Ukrainian Club in Edinburgh about the struggles that people face getting visas and lawfully entering the UK.

The 40-year-old academic, who is originally from Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, said there was “massive support” from people in Scotland, the Scottish Government and local councils who are offering Ukrainians sanctuary but people are faced with “administrative resistance” from the Home Office.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Gorash said: “We have received hundreds of emails and messages from people around Glasgow and Scotland offering rooms for people who would arrive, they say they will provide accommodation and food and host people who come.

“It’s not only citizens. Businesses, hotels and hostels that are willing to host people for free.

“It’s not just 100%, it’s more like 200% support on one side but it’s not easy when the border is basically sealed and it’s not easy for people to get here.

“That is the main topic we spoke about with the First Minister this morning.”

He told PA: “Our major disappointment is that there are still lots of obstacles from the Home Office and they are still not resolved.

“The legal routes are open only to people who have relatives, family and extended family here, but they still need to apply for a visa and that’s a major problem.

“It wasn’t easy to apply for any kind of tourist visa during normal times but now it’s an extraordinary time and these poor people, women and children, have to spend hours in queues to sort out paperwork and then we wait for the decision.

“That just contributes to the tragedy, because they’re already exhausted when they arrive to Poland, Slovakia, to Romania, and then they have to suffer even more just spending hours and hours in the queues in the consulates.

“I believe that most of us believe that it would be much easier if all the security checks, biometrics and documents can be done somewhere in the airports.

“It would be easy to organise a hub in England and in Scotland, for example at Prestwick Airport, where all the people would come and then they would meet the relatives and all this process of visa approvement would be done in the UK.

“At least that way we would definitely know that our relatives are safe and in UK territory, but still there is resistance from the Home Office to do this.”

Mr Gorash, who has lived in Glasgow for 10 years, now runs the Glasgow version of Edinburgh’s Ukrainian Club where the First Minister met with volunteers and helped pack nappies that will be dispatched to Ukraine.

However, the Glasgow branch of the organisation does not have a physical base – something that was discussed with Ms Sturgeon who said the Scottish Government would look into whether it could find or provided premises for their work.

He said he started volunteering when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied Donbas in 2014 when there were approximately 30 active members but since the latest Russian invasion, approximately 500 Ukrainian people living in Glasgow have come forward.

“The response to the aggressive and brutal things happening in Ukraine has just been shock and anger,” Mr Gorash told PA.

“It’s almost unimaginable that one big nation just decided to wipe from history another nation, but this is Russia – a country run by a dictator and total authoritarian who has the media under his control.

“The propaganda is saying that Ukraine is not a nation, is not a country and we have to be liberated. But liberated from who? Themselves? It’s so shocking.”

Mr Gorash said his parents feel “relatively safe” in a largely residential part of Kharkiv despite widespread destruction from bombing in the city centre and are keen to remain “unless it turns catastrophic and they really need to leave”.

He said he has seen his old school “completely destroyed” after being hit by an artillery shell, although no one is believed to have been inside when it was targeted.

Through social media, Mr Gorash says he is seeing friends and countrymen in the country’s territorial defence force being quickly trained and armed with automatic rifles and anti-tank weapons.

He said: “There is a massive effort happening and military support and weapons from all around the world are arriving.

“Our hopes are that they will defend our land and the Russian army will be pushed back to the Russian border.”