After the outbreak of military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, a large number of Ukrainians became refugees and took refuge on the European continent. Among them, Vadym Chernets, 45, dragged his family and a group of nine people out of Kiev by car to the port of Calais, France.
According to an exclusive report by the British "Daily Mail" on March 9, local time, when Chernets hoped to enter the UK safely from the port of Calais, he was brutally treated by a British local official. The official said, "Get back in your luxury car, roll!" ”
At present, although British Prime Minister Johnson boasts that he is "very generous" to Ukrainian refugees, Ukrainians still have difficulties in entering Britain. For the sake of a group of Ukrainian refugees like the Chernets family, who are caught between Britain and France, "left and right", the British and French "old enemies" have started a "war of words" and made an unpleasant scene.
Screenshot of the Daily Mail report
Chernets' party of nine reportedly included him and his wife, their 6 children (1 son and 5 daughters, aged between 7 and 23), and their 7-month-old granddaughter. In addition, their 23-year-old daughter is pregnant with her second child.
Last week, the family fled the Ukrainian capital Kiev in a Mercedes benz to France, hoping to eventually reach Britain safely. However, when they arrived in the port of Calais, before the "British Immigration Counselling Point" for Ukrainian refugees, they were told by the British border agents that they could not apply for a visa because they did not have any relatives in the UK.
The red icon is the French port city of Calais taken from the map
At the time, there was even a "heartless" official shouting at Chernets: "You can go back to the luxury car and get out where you want to go." ”
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Chernets said: "I was shocked to hear this, these officials don't care about us, they only care about procedures and systems, I thought the British would welcome us, but given what we have been through, I feel that they have insulted me." ”
"We just fled Kiev and the kids saw something terrible and my eldest son is still there to fight." Chernets continued: "The UK is a country I have always admired and we want to learn English and live here until it is safe to return to Ukraine. I know I have no relatives in the UK and I don't know who will fund me, but I don't understand why the government can't change the rules and help us. ”
The Chernets family of nine is pictured from the British media
After being rejected by immigration officials, the Chernets family reportedly got into a Mercedes-Benz car and are now considering which country to travel to.
"We might stay in France, or go to other European countries, I don't know, and I'm still trying to digest the fact that Britain doesn't accept us." Luckily, my financial situation was pretty good, so we would book the hotel first and then think about what to do next. Chernets said.
According to the British Reuters news agency and the Guardian on March 7, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on the same day that more than 1.7 million refugees have fled Ukraine for other European countries from February 24 to March 6, local time. UNHCR officials say this has become the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
Ukrainian refugees await entry into Romania. Video screenshots
In fact, the situation that happened to the Chernets family is not unique. For the sake of a group of Ukrainian refugees caught between Britain and France, the "old enemies" have caused unhappiness.
On March 6, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called on the British side to solve the visa issue of Ukrainian refugees who wanted to enter the UK as soon as possible, lamenting that the British side's approach was "inhumane". But Home Secretary Priti Patel rejected the French allegations outright, saying "the British government has not repatriated anyone at all." ”
At present, although British Prime Minister Johnson boasts that he is "very generous" to Ukrainian refugees, Ukrainians still have difficulties in entering Britain.
According to the New York Times, as of March 8, more than 17,000 Ukrainians had applied for visas to the United Kingdom, but only 500 had been signed, with a visa approval rate of less than 3%, far from Johnson's previous claim that "200,000 Ukrainians eventually entered the United Kingdom".
Meanwhile, the UK government's visa application website and app collapsed several times, Ukraine's only visa application centre suddenly closed last weekend, visa application appointments have been scheduled for weeks, a series of situations that have made the UK government attacked by all sides as "bureaucracy" and "red tape", and there have been calls for visa exemptions for Ukrainians within the UK.
So far, the petition on the UK government's website about "exemption from visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees" has received more than 150,000 supports, and the UK parliament will debate the petition on March 14.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.