Fogbow

UK rejects opening borders to Ukraine refugees

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected calls on Monday for Britain to ease visa demands on Ukrainian refugees fleeing conflict, saying Britain was a generous country but it needed to maintain checks on who was arriving.

The United Nations estimates that more than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia started bombarding its neighbour, with hundreds of thousands pouring into Poland, Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere.

Responding to criticism Britain was not doing enough and was far behind its European neighbours in helping address the continent's biggest humanitarian crisis since World War Two, Johnson said:

"We are a very, very generous country. What we want though is control and we want to be able to check." he told reporters. "I think it's sensible given what's going on in Ukraine to make sure that we have some basic ability to check who is coming in."

The British government has been condemned by charities, opposition lawmakers and France after its insistence that refugees first acquire a visa meant some Ukrainians have been stuck in the French city of Calais, unable to enter Britain, and provoking a diplomatic row. read more

The European Union has agreed to grant temporary residency to Ukrainians fleeing the invasion and give them access to employment, social welfare and housing for up to three years.

Tom Harrington @cbctom wrote: A German multi-billionaire has rented three hotels at the Polish-German border for three+ months for #Ukraine refugees, turning meeting rooms into playrooms for children & kindergarten teachers. Kitchens will provide a breakfast & dinner buffet. Will likely cost him $5 million

Foggy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:16 pm One and a half million people already. And the war, as we know, probably about to become a lot more brutal, especially in the population centers. The exodus of refugees could be just beginning.

The goog says 41.6 million total live in Ukraine. Not a huge percentage of the population has left so far. But that could grow into a major humanitarian crisis.

Yikes on a pancake with fake maple syrup.

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pipistrelle wrote: ↑Tue Mar 08, 2022 8:08 am My understanding is Poland suspended paperwork requirements for pets so refugees wouldn't have to leave them behind. Be more like Poland, UK.

W. Kevin Vicklund wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 8:30 pm

Foggy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:16 pm One and a half million people already. And the war, as we know, probably about to become a lot more brutal, especially in the population centers. The exodus of refugees could be just beginning.

The goog says 41.6 million total live in Ukraine. Not a huge percentage of the population has left so far. But that could grow into a major humanitarian crisis.

Yikes on a pancake with fake maple syrup.

You mean like this?

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Phoenix520 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 2:37 pm If what they say is true, I love it!

The Kyiv Independent @KyivIndependent wrote: Every minute, 55 Ukrainian children become refugees.

“That is, a Ukrainian child has become a refugee almost every single second since the start of the war,” UNICEF wrote in a press release.

In other words, on average 75,000 children have become refugees everyday.

Ben Lewis @benlewismedia wrote: At the Ukraine/Poland border. Tired women and children leaving their country. They’re being pestered by American preachers telling them they all need to accept Jesus as their saviour and their lives will be better. Receiving a lot of eye rolls in response.

Andrea Mitchell @mitchellreports wrote: Reporting from Lviv, @mollymhunter: “We are now getting firsthand testimony...of Russians, targeting civilian infrastructure, targeting civilian homes…This is going to be vital reporting as we put together a picture of what is actually happening and Mariupol.” #AMRstaff

KyivPost @KyivPost wrote: The Russians continue to kill #Ukrainian children. A two-year-old child died in the shelling in Novy Petrivtsi, Kyiv region.

Russian soldiers kill mother of two as she drives family to safety

In the early morning of March 1, Svitlana Zhulina was driving her family away from war-torn Kyiv Oblast. Her husband, Andriy Vilson, was sitting next to her, their two sons of eight and 10 in the back seat.

They were driving along Zhytomyr Highway, a westbound road very familiar to Kyivans. In peacetime, people would use it to get to the Ukrainian “western capital” of Lviv. Now, it was the road to safety.

Suddenly, Andriy heard a loud explosion and his wife’s head fell against him. A sniper’s bullet had hit her.

He stopped the car and rushed to save the rest of his family.

“It was a horror for the kids. The bullet hit the windshield and their mother who was there just a moment ago is gone,” Andriy said.

The doors were blocked, so he got out through the window and started taking his kids out of the car.

“I took Artem first,” Andriy said of his older son, “and they shot me in the right leg. I hid Artem behind the car hood so they could not reach him.”

Andriy then returned for Myroslav, his youngest.

“Myroslav lingered. He looked at my leg, saw a big hole in it, and said: ‘Dad, there’s a hole.’ And right then those bastards shot him in the leg,” he said.

As he was hiding the wounded Myroslav, the Russian soldiers shot his left leg. He fell.