On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned down requests made for the UK to ease visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees fleeing conflict, saying Britain was a generous country but it needed to maintain checks on who was arriving.
In response to criticism that Britain is not doing enough to help in what is shaping up to be Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War, Johson said, "We are a very, very generous country. What we want though is control and we want to be able to check. 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."
More than 500 Ukrainian refugees are currently in Calais, hoping to get to the UK. Among them are families with small children and babies, as well as elderly women who have fled the war and crossed a continent.
Some 17,700 people have applied to come to the UK as part of the Ukrainian Family Scheme, and 300 visas have been issued.
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.
France’s interior minister has accused the British government of showing a “lack of humanity” when it comes to helping the Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion and are now waiting in Calais for permission to join their families in the UK.
According to the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, 400 Ukrainian refugees have presented themselves at Calais border crossings in recent days – only for 150 of them to be told to go away and obtain visas at UK consulates in Paris or Brussels.
In a letter to the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, Darmanin called on the British government to set up a proper consular service in Calais, adding that its response so far was “completely unsuitable” and showed a “lack of humanity” towards refugees who were often “in distress”.
In the letter, seen by the Agence France-Presse news agency, Darmanin wrote: “It is imperative that your consular representation – exceptionally and for the duration of this crisis – is able to issue visas for family reunification on the spot in Calais.”
