The Sunday Telegraph

Britain ‘lacking humanity’ over refugees

- By Michael Murphy

THE French interior minister has written to Priti Patel accusing Britain of “lacking humanity” in its response to Ukrainian refugees.

The Home Secretary was urged by her French counterpar­t, Gérald Darmanin, to set up a consular presence in Calais to issue visas to Ukrainians who travelled there with the intention of meeting family members in Britain.

Mr Darmanin said that 400 refugees had arrived at Calais but 150 were told to obtain visas at UK consulates in Paris or Brussels.

The war has caused the fastest-moving flow of refugees in Europe since the end of the Second World War, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said yesterday. In the past 10 days, at least 1.2 million people in Ukraine have fled to neighbouri­ng countries.

The movement of mostly women and children is coming at a faster rate than the relocation of people at the height of the Balkan wars in the 1990s, and far faster than the one during the Hungarian refugee crisis of 1956, said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commission­er for refugees.

Most refugees are fleeing west into Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, which have all opened their borders to Ukrainians looking to escape the conflict.

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