A UKRAINIAN woman is stranded alone “in the middle of a war zone” as she waits for a UK visa after weeks of delays, her British friend and sponsor has said.
Marcin Zawisza, a Polish-born social worker from Edinburgh, said he is worried about Olena Stadnik, 33, who is stuck near the Russian-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.
The 40-year-old has been a family friend of Stadnik for two decades and applied to the Homes For Ukraine scheme on March 18 to offer her his spare room – but, despite being accepted the following day, he has not heard anything since.
“I can’t focus and I’m constantly checking my emails for any news about my Homes For Ukraine application,” Zawisza said.
“It’s been hard because I have other friends still in Ukraine but my flat is too small to offer it to everyone, so I picked Olena as she is on her own.
“I don’t understand why the Government is taking so long to process everything because all these people are in a desperate situation.
“It’s heartbreaking ... I think they should be prioritising people like my friend who are actually still stuck in the middle of a war zone.”
Zawisza said the delay is making it difficult for Stadnik to escape the war as she is concerned about leaving Ukraine without having a place to go.
He added that she was forced to flee the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, after her home was bombed and travelled south, and is now “moving around a lot” in the region near Kherson – a city Russia claimed control over in early March.
“Olena is in one of the worst places in Ukraine and even going to a safer country will be too dangerous because she will be travelling on her own through a war zone,” Zawisza said. “
She’s been thinking about entering Crimea but we will have to see how easy that will be because apparently they are shooting people there.
“We have been discussing how she can escape and the safest route at the moment would be for her to travel into Russia.
“I know it sounds a bit funny but there’s no war in Russia, and then she can fly from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey, and then to UK.”
Zawisza, who moved to Edinburgh from Poland in 2004, said it has been “heartbreaking” to follow the situation in Ukraine and that he feels “helpless”. “For Polish people it’s hard because we want to help but we feel quite useless, especially if we are far away like myself,” he said.
“I’ve had to download a special messenger app because some of the social media in Ukraine doesn’t work anymore and I am trying to stay in touch with my friends out there.
“I wanted to travel to Ukraine to help people but financially I just can’t afford it, so I decided to offer my home instead, but the process is just taking too long.”
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing Ukraine can find safety in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes For Ukraine.
“We have streamlined the process so valid passport holders do not have to attend in-person appointments before arriving in the UK, simplified our forms and boosted caseworker numbers, while ensuring vital security checks are carried out.
“We continue to speed up visa processing across both schemes, with almost 30,000 visas issued in the last three weeks alone and thousands more expected to come through these uncapped routes.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here