A UKRAINIAN lawyer working as a cleaner at Butlin’s has urged the Government to put in place long-term plans for the future of Ukrainian refugees in the UK.
Svitlana Hurska, 42, from Kyiv, has been living and working in Minehead since fleeing the Ukraine war in October 2022 with her four children, aged five, ten, 16, and 18.
Speaking in Dulverton on Wednesday, October 2, during a constituency visit from Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, Svitlana shared her plea for more “stability” to be given to Ukrainians in the UK.
Svitlana told the MPs: “We have an answer from the government that they will renew our visa for 18 months, but it is not enough to plan our future.
“It’s very frustrating for all Ukrainians who are here now, there are more than 200 in Minehead and the local area.
“We would like to be useful in this country, all of us are very educated and skilled, and we would like to understand what we should expect from the future here. Don’t let us swim in the sea of uncertainty.”
Ed Davey responded: “My heart goes out to everyone in Ukraine, and we will stand with you. There’s been a cross-party consensus on it, to make sure we work with European colleagues and hopefully North American colleagues to help Ukraine.”
He added that, as a host of a Ukrainian fleeing war, he’d seen first-hand how one of the challenges is “getting the Government to be rational, as we have a lot of people in this country who have the skills to contribute more, but we’re not using them.”
Fleeing Ukrainians were offered visas granting three years’ leave in the UK under programmes such as Homes for Ukraine, the Ukraine Extension Scheme and the Ukraine Family Scheme — all schemes closed to applicants earlier this year.
Most recently, an 18-month visa extension scheme was announced and will open in 2025, but the future for Ukrainian nationals in the UK following that remains “uncertain”.
