Coventry ready to welcome Ukrainian refugees as “city of sanctuary”

Coventry will gladly welcome an influx of Ukrainian refugees if the government decides to relocate more people fleeing the bloody Russian invasion. Not only has Coventry City Council said it will welcome Ukrainians with open arms, but the authority even urged the Government to relax its visa restrictions to enable more desperate Ukrainians to seek asylum in the UK. More than 500,000 Ukrainians are said to have fled the bombs, missiles and gunfire that have killed hundreds and are destroying many of the country’s major cities.

: UK and world news That figure could rise to four million people as the fighting intensifies, the European Union (EU) has warned amid grim forecasts Russian troops will deploy ever more barbaric and indiscriminate tactics. On February 27, the Home Office announced ‘temporary visa concessions’ to allow the immediate family members of British nationals who usually live in Ukraine to come to the UK.

A day later, Home Secretary Priti Patel said these concessions would also apply to the immediate family members of Ukrainians who have already settled in the UK.

Home Secretary Priti Patel (Image: PA)

But Ukrainians who do not have an immediate family member who is a British national, or a Ukrainian national settled in the UK, cannot currently apply for a UK family migration visa. Labour and some members of the Conservative Party has called for the rules to be extended to cover wider family members. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted saying the government should “set out a broader sanctuary route”.

(Image: PA)

And that move was echoed by the council which last week removed the Russian flag from its headquarters, in a symbolic move communicated to officials in Coventry’s twinned city of Volgograd.

A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of several local people who have relatives caught up in this conflict and we would urge the relaxation of visa restrictions to enable families to be with loved ones. “In the event that the Government decides that a supported programme is required to provide shelter for those vulnerable people displaced by this conflict then Coventry has indicated it would be prepared to consider this as we have supported other national programmes for Syrians and Afghans.

Scattered debris after a Russian missile hit a residential apartment block in Kyiv (Image: Getty Images)

“Coventry is proud to be a city of sanctuary.” Last year, Coventry relocated around 150 refugees from Afghanistan, following the rise to power of the taliban, as part of the government’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

The EU is planning to allow Ukrainian refugees to settle in its member states for three years without having to apply for a visa.

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