12 2GM Friday March 18 2022 | the times
News
A group of 48 orphans who fled the war
in Ukraine are to be flown to Britain on
Monday after the Home Office gave the
green light.
The children, who are aged from six
to 17, left five orphanages in Dnipro in
central Ukraine on March 8, days
before Russian airstrikes on the city.
They have been temporarily housed
in a hotel in Znin, northern Poland, but
were waiting to hear if they could enter
the UK, despite an offer from a charity
in Scotland to take them into their care.
The children will be housed in
Callander, Perthshire, for two to three
weeks before longer term accommoda-
tion can be found in Edinburgh.
The charity wants the children, along
with four “mothers” who will accompa-
ny them, to stay together so they can
Football charity flying dozens
of orphans to new lives in UK
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Kieran Andrews Scottish Political Editor
return to Dnipro when the war is over.
Hibernian football club has pledged to
fund their return flights.
The Home Office had been accused
of hindering efforts to get the children
to the UK but responded that complex
Ukrainian rules governing the care of
orphans had halted the plans.
But after talks with the Ukrainian
ambassador yesterday, Priti Patel, the
home secretary, said permission had
been given to bring the children to
Britain. She is working with the Polish
government to arrange their journey.
The mission was arranged by Dnipro
Kids, a charity established by fans of
Hibernian after they played Dnipro in a
European football competition in 2005.
The charity is hoping to arrange a
flight to Stansted before transporting
them north of the border after missing
a deadline to arrange a flight to the UK
today. Ian Blackford, the SNP’s West-minster leader, who has lobbied the UK
government to grant the orphans visas,
will travel to Poland on the Virgin
Atlantic flight and return with the
orphans.
Patel said: “It is deeply troubling that
children from the charity Dnipro Kids
have been caught up in Putin’s brutal
invasion of Ukraine. I have been work-
ing directly with the Ukrainian govern-
ment and asked for their permission to
bring these children to the UK. I am ex-
tremely grateful to the authorities in
Ukraine, who have now confirmed to
me that the children can come here.”
Blackford said: “I’m absolutely
delighted we’ve managed to achieve
this breakthrough and that, all things
being well, Scotland will welcome 48
Ukrainian children and their guardians
to safety on Monday.
“While this process has been more
difficult than it needed to be, all thatmatters now is that these children will
be in a place of safety and I am pleased
beyond words.
“I want to pay tribute to everyone
who has worked hard to make this
happen including the Scottish charity
Dnipro Kids, the Ukrainian and Polish
authorities, the Scottish government,
Edinburgh city council, and all those
who have helped resolve issues at the
Home Office.
“It’s essential that the UK govern-
ment learns lessons and removes un-
necessary barriers and delays to sup-
porting displaced children and families.
“Not all children will be in the posi-
tion of having guardians and adults to
support them, and the Home Office
must ensure there are safe, smooth and
quick ways for them to access visas and
reach safety. It’s far from clear to me
how that can happen under the present
system.”Orphans aged between six and 17 will be arriving in Scotland thanks to Dnipro Kids, a charity set up by Hibernian supporters after the club played in Ukraine in 2005
News War in Ukraine
TOM MADDICK/SWNSA Ukrainian boy aged 11 was reunited
with his mother in Slovakia after travel-
ling more than 620 miles alone with a
phone number written on his hand.
Hassan al-Khalaf hugged Yulia
Volodymyrivna , who had followed him
from their war-torn home, bringing his
grandmother and the family dog. “We
had to escape so our family could be
back together,” she told The Sun,
adding: “We have to start from scratch.
We lost everything but we’re healthy.”
Volodymyrivna decided to put Has-
san on a train leaving Zaporizhzhya in
A
s soon as Vladimir Putin
illegally invaded Ukraine
last month and began
the indiscriminate
shelling of civilians, it
was immediately obvious that there
would be a huge wave of refugees.
Since then I’ve been working with
a British-Ukrainian family whom I
have known as constituents for
years. Their family in Ukraine have
been trying to stay safe.
They don’t have many options, but
the option to come here is the only
one they need. They would, though,
need a place to stay, and so I made
the commitment that we would find
somewhere, even if that meant them
coming to stay with me. It was the
natural thing to do. Many of us feel
we want to do what we can to help.
This is something I can do to help.
Then, at the end of last week,
Michael Gove told me that he was
introducing a government scheme
to help anyone wanting to host a
Ukrainian family. I think this is a
great idea. Today, the scheme opens
for visa applications from
Ukrainians, including the family I
am trying to help. A named sponsor
is all about speeding up the process
and getting our Ukrainian friends to
safety. I’m hugely looking forward to
hosting a family in my home in
Suffolk.
It was easy to sign up. With a
quick Google search, I was able to
find the government’s Homes for
Ukraine site. Here I could read the
finer details of the scheme, such as
the sort of accommodation you are
expected to provide and whether
you need to provide meals (you don’t
but are welcome to).
Within a few short clicks I was
taken to a list of seven questions,
mostly multiple choice, ranging
from how many people I could
accommodate to how long I could
offer accommodation for. It took
less than ten minutes. While the site
did temporarily crash because of
overwhelming demand, let’s
remember what that tells us. The
British people remain some of the
most generous in the world.
Personally I think we need a
permanent system that’s ready to go
whenever there’s a crisis somewhere
in the world. But that’s a discussion
for another day.
Matt Hancock is the Conservative
MP for West SuffolkBoy who made 620-mile solo trip is reunited with his mother
the south of Ukraine after the nearby
nuclear power plant was attacked by
Russians. She remained behind to care
for the boy’s disabled grandmother, 84.
Hassan reached the Slovak border on
March 4, shocking frontier police who
posted on social media the next
morning: “This brings tears to our eyes.
This is the biggest hero of last night.”
Using the number on his hand, they
contacted Hassan’s brother, 20, who is
studying in the capital, Bratislava. He
had already been joined by Hassan’s
three sisters. They are among 232,
refugees from Ukraine who have en-
tered Slovakia, 93,000 of them child-ren. The family’s escape
marked the second
war they had fled
from: they moved to
Ukraine from Syria
after Hassan’s Syr-
ian father died.
At a pro-
Ukrainian rally
in Bratislava,
Hassan said he
found the courageto travel without his mother, who is
Ukrainian. “I got my hope
from my mum wanting
me to go,” he said.
“My hope carried me
on my way. I believe
there will be a happy
ending.”
The family was
reunited this
week when Vo-
lodymyrivna
reached Slo-
vakia. Police
praised Has-
san’s brother,stating he had worked hard to get travel
papers for his family as well as search-
ing for schools and housing for them.
On first hearing that her son was safe,
Volodymyrivna sent a tearful video,
thanking border guards and volunteers
in Slovakia. “Border guards met him,
they guided him holding his hand,” she
said. “They helped him to cross the bor-
der and let him to the other side of Slo-
vakia. Then Slovakian volunteers met
him. They fed my child. They took him
to Bratislava.
“I thank you very much for saving my
son’s life. There are people with big
hearts in your small country.”Tom Kington
Hassan is safe
with his mother
in SlovakiaOffering to
host a family
is the natural
thing to do
Matt Hancock
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