GIVE THEM HOPE
Brits get £350 a month to open homes to refugees as Russians step up blitz I fear what will transpire in Kyiv will be unwatchable
BRITS are to be rewarded with £350 a month to take Ukrainian refugees into their homes.
The scheme was announced last night as capital Kyiv braced itself for a Russian onslaught.
Starving people in the worst-hit city of Mariupol have been forced to eat snow to stay alive in the freezing cold.
But thousands fleeing the carnage will be housed in the UK under a scheme announced by Michael Gove.
The Levelling Up Secretary said handouts for those accommodating refugees for at least six months would be a “thank-you” for helping out.
He said: “I urge people across the country to join the national effort and offer support to our Ukrainian friends.
Horror
“Together we can give a safe home to those who so desperately need it.”
Details of the Homes for Ukraine scheme will be revealed this week after the Government came under fire for not doing enough in the crisis.
Individuals, businesses, charities or community groups can offer a home rent free or a spare bedroom.
Ukrainians who have sponsors will be granted three years to remain here, with entitlement to work and public services such as the NHS.
The visa route for those fleeing the war is currently restricted to family members of those already here.
But Home Secretary Priti Patel will launch another scheme this week allowing in those with no ties.
The UN estimates that 2.6 million people have fled Vladimir Putin’s war – almost 6% of the Ukrainian population.
PM Boris Johnson has already said Britain will take 200,000 people in. But Mr Gove said there was no cap on the numbers for his scheme.
Germany has already taken in 109,000 refugees after up to 300,000 people offered to house them.
Yesterday, fresh attempts to evacuate civilians across Ukraine were again targeted by Russian shelling.
Ukraine’s intelligence service said Russians killed seven people including a child travelling in a convoy outside Kyiv on Friday.
It said they were attempting to leave the village of Peremoha along an agreed humanitarian corridor. A source said: “The invaders shelled a column of civilians, which consisted exclusively of women and children.
“The exact number of wounded is still unknown.”
The statement added: “After the attack, the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back to Peremoha and are not letting them out of the village.”
Those left in Kyiv itself are facing a bloody siege as Russian troops have advanced to less than 15 miles from the centre amid intense fighting.
Former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-gordon warned of an “escalation of horror” as Russians moved rocket launchers into position outside the city.
The chemical weapons expert said: “I fear what is about to transpire in Kyiv is going to be unwatchable.
“If things start going badly, the Russians use thermobaric weapons, which are illegal to fire in civilian areas – white phosphorus, a self-igniting chemical that can burn at upwards of 2,500 degrees, and possibly napalm.
“It will be like Grenfell multiplied by a thousand.”
But as air raid sirens and volleys of shelling rang out over the city, Ukraine’s youngest MP declared: “Nobody is going to surrender.”
In a reference to the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, in which two million troops died, Sviatoslav Yurah, 26, warned: “This will be their Stalingrad if they want to make it so.”
Ukrainians say its soldiers blew up a Russian HQ outside the capital yesterday and up to 600 Russians surrendered on Friday.
In the devastated port of Mariupol, starving residents dug mass graves for more than 1,500 victims while advancing Russian forces captured the eastern outskirts.
Catastrophe
The city, with a population of 400,000, is without heating and power. MP Dmytro Gurin described the situation as “medieval”, and said: “People are melting snow for water, preparing food on open fires, and cutting down trees for firewood.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba added: “Mariupol is now the worst humanitarian catastrophe on
the planet. We need planes to stop Russian war crimes.” Elsewhere yesterday, Russians encircled the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Sumy.
There were reports of loud explosions in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth largest city, as well as in the cities of Mykolaiv and Nikolaev.
As the conflict enters its 18th day today, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said 1,300 of his troops had been killed so far.
He claimed Russia was having to send in new forces after losing 12,000 troops.
Ukraine says it has destroyed 353 tanks, many using Uk-donated antitank missiles.
Mr Zelensky said: “This is the biggest blow to the Russian army in decades. They’ve never lost more than that in such a time period.”
Russia’s economy is now facing its deepest crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as sanctions against
Putin and his cronies bite. But Mr Zelensky’s economic adviser said the UK’S continuing acceptance of Russian oil amounted to British motorists funding Putin’s war crimes.
He said: “This is blood oil diesel. It will be sold for money used by Putin to buy weapons and ammunition that are killing Ukrainians. It is literally true that your purchase of these kinds of oil has killed Ukrainian children.”
His comments came as an oil tanker from Russia arrived in the River Thames yesterday.
The ship was not breaking sanctions and was registered in the Marshall Islands in a common shipping practice. Last week Business Secretary Kwasi
Kwarteng said the UK would phase out imports of Russian oil – around 8% of the country’s supplies – by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, British special forces veterans helping the Ukrainians have been ordered to leave the front line.
A number of crack troops went to the war zone in a project paid for via a private military company and funded by a non-uk European country.
But sources said the team has regrouped in west Ukraine after Brit officials decided their presence may spark political problems.
One insider said: “Even though they are no longer serving in the military and many came to Ukraine when it was deemed still legal, things have changed back in the UK.”
Britons who volunteer to fight in Ukraine face being executed on the spot if the Russians capture them.