‘Why do children need to go through this?’
Streatley yoga instructor tells of struggle to bring her family to Berkshire
A STREATLEY yoga instructor has shared the struggles she has faced in trying to bring her family to her home from war-torn Ukraine.
Yana Lutsy is half Russian and half Ukrainian and has lived in the UK for around 12 years with her husband and two boys, aged eight and 10.
She has been trying to safely bring her mother, sister and six-year-old nephew to her home in Berkshire, but has struggled with the systems put in place to bring Ukrainians to the UK.
On March 18, the UK Government rolled out phase one of its Homes for Ukraine scheme whereby residents of the UK can become a ‘sponsor’ and invite a refugee to stay with them in their home.
In data released by the Government on April 8, from the 79,800 visa applications received, 40,900 have been issued.
Of these, only 12,000 visa-holders have successfully arrived in the UK.
On March 1, Yana told her 62-year-old Russian mother Iryna, who has lived all of her post-graduate life in Ukraine, that she would be able to flee her town of Odesa to come to Berkshire, but the pair were met with obstacles.
Mrs Lutsy flew to Ukraine to meet her mother on the Moldova border on March 2, a day after the announcement, to assist her as she doesn’t speak English or travel much.
They stayed in Romania for two days as they waited for what they believed would be simple visa application forms.
The mother and daughter were then told, on March 4, that they would need to go to a visa centre for fingerprint scans which can only be done at certain centres, subsequently re-routing their journey to Poland.
It was here where they found out the centres didn’t open until March 7.
They were then met with what Mrs Lutsy described as “enormous and overwhelming queues” and it wasn’t until March 8 that her mother’s fingerprints were taken.
This ordeal continued for weeks and it wasn’t until March 21 that Iryna was safe and with her daughter in her Berkshire home.
The same cannot be said for her sister Anna and her son Roman, who were still stuck in limbo, unsure as to when they’d be reunited with Yana.
Mrs Lutsy had applied for her sister’s visa only two hours after applying for her mother’s, but with the sheer volume of applications pouring in, they had to wait until March 17 for an appointment.
With Anna’s German husband Alexander staying in Ukraine to fight (who Mrs Lutsy says is OK and in daily contact with the family), she has had to flee alone with her six-year-old, whose passport had expired.
Anna left for her in-laws’ home in Germany to extend her son’s passport at the Ukrainian embassy in Berlin, as she lives with her relatives and 11 other people and animals who are also seeking refuge with her.
But Roman was still waiting, on April 6, to find out whether he can flee with his mother to stay with his aunt in the UK.
Mrs Lutsy said: “My issue is that why do the children need to go through this?”
She also asked why there wasn’t a fast-tracked or emergency service for those fleeing from the epicentre of war – from places like Kyiv and Mariupol.
She said: “Why isn’t there priority for people from those places where homes have been horribly damaged, where there are no houses left?”
“Why don’t they prioritise those people? It’s mostly mothers and children.”
She said that the application process isn’t easy for refugees, with many non-English speakers unable to decipher the formal language and many unable to access the internet needed to submit their applications – with some sitting underground, unable to even call family members to notify them of their safety.
“There is no communication, there is no announcement that they are speeding it up,” Mrs Lutsy said.
“I am looking at this thinking [the Government] do everything to delay bringing refugees here in the hope that it is going to finish or in the hope they will just give up themselves and just won’t want to come here.”
She has had to have difficult conversations with her two sons who, every day, ask when they will see their family.
Mrs Lutsy said: “I say that I don’t know, but they say ‘predict Mamma, predict, tell us a date’. We are all just waiting in the limbo state.”
The delays have also led to low morale from host families in the UK, as well as Ukrainian refugees who were all initially “so happy” with the sponsorship scheme.
Mrs Lutsy said: “The delay is changing the moods, there is negativity.”
She said it has, in some cases, led to disagreement about who should have priority in leaving Ukraine for the UK, with some arguing that those from less safe areas like Mariupol should be prioritised.
She said: “I am against this of course. If it is safe today in your house, it doesn’t mean it will be safe tomorrow.
“It is a big decision. If you are coming to a person’s house, who you don’t know and you are a woman with a child or two, you have so much doubt.”
Speaking on the war itself, she explained the shock Ukrainians felt when their neighbour country invaded.
“I don’t know, it is like Wales attacking England – that is how we are with the Russians. We are same.”
She noted the culture and language shared between the two countries as well as the internal passports that allow residents to travel between the two, freely.
Mrs Lutsy went on: “My mum is Russian, she is from Russia, born there, lived there, graduated there. I have cousins there, my mum’s friends.
“We have been in contact with them at the beginning of the war, but not any more. It’s a difference of views.”
She added: “I think with the war the relationship is so broken now, so broken.”
n On Tuesday, Yana got in contact with the Newbury Weekly News to say that Roman had been issued with a visa.
He and his mother have been reunited with their family in Berkshire.
Why isn’t there priority for people from those places where homes have been horribly damaged, where there are no houses left?