The 40-year-old English teacher and college administrator left her home in Kyiv with her husband and son on February 24 as the first Russian missiles began to strike. “We had to leave the city,” he says. “I already have refugee status and I know what bombs mean.” Sky Senior Technical Supervisor Paul Brown met Kristina when they both visited friends in Kyiv in 2012. They succeeded and have been in touch ever since. Get the latest live updates on the war in Ukraine Kristina was living with Paul in London in 2014 when she first became a refugee. Hailing from Luhansk in the Donbas region, she was told she could not go home when she returned to Ukraine. The Russian-backed separatists had tried to annex the east of the country and it was not safe to travel there. After finding a place in a Kiev hostel, with courage and determination, she rebuilt her life, working in a private English-language school, married and had a son, Lev. When the Russians invaded Ukraine, Paul, who had been in contact with Christina all these years through social media, offered his house to her and Lev. The British visa system for Ukrainian refugees is an obstacle. Image: Kristina’s husband had to return to Kyiv “I was very happy when Paul said we could stay” Kristina’s husband, of fighting age, had to return to Kyiv, leaving mother and son at her aunt’s house in Ozerna, western Ukraine. He says things are so difficult that he may have to return to the Ukrainian capital, but he still hopes to come to the UK. “I was very happy when Paul suggested we come and stay at his house in London until the war was over. “So I applied for a British visa on the first day of the Grant Scheme – March 18th.” The UK Visa and Immigration Service confirmed the receipt of her application the same day. He then realized that he had to make a second application for the four-year-old Lev. This was completed and sent, with the help of Paul, on March 22, and the receipt was confirmed again. An email on March 23 stated that her application was at the decision-making center, but nothing for Lev. Since then, there has been silence from the Ministry of Interior. Picture: Kristina and Lev in Kyiv before the war Read more: Priti Patel apologizes as evidence shows that only 12,000 refugees have arrived under visa programs The whole visa system is “chaos” Back in London, Paul has done everything he can to make the process as easy as possible. His home has been inspected by his local Haringey council to make sure it is suitable to house Kristina and Lev and has undergone mandatory criminal record checks. In fact, through the council he found out that Christina’s visa had been approved, but the council was powerless to act as visas are a matter for the Home Office. Answering Paul’s question, Faringa Wilkinson of the Haringey Council wrote: “Everything is fine to welcome your guests into your home. “The central database shows that Christina’s visa has been issued, but Lev’s visa is pending.” Paul describes the whole system as “a mess.” Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker Back in western Ukraine, Kristina begins to lose hope. “If we do not receive our visa in the next few days, we will return to Kyiv because we will have nowhere to stay. “There are so many refugees and I just do not have enough money to live and no one knows how long we will have to wait.” In a statement to Sky News, the Home Office said: “In response to Putin’s barbaric invasion, we have launched one of the fastest and largest visa programs in the history of the United Kingdom. In just four weeks, more than 40,000 visas were issued so that people could rebuild their lives in the UK. “Applications are usually processed in the order in which the applicants’ documents are uploaded. The Ministry of the Interior is aware that some applicants have waited almost three weeks for their applications to be processed or for the results to be announced. “We recognize that this is unacceptable and we are working to resolve it and continue to speed up the processing of applications.”
