Europeans bracing for more refugees

UK criticized over hindrances placed in way of those fleeing Ukraine conflict

LONDON－Eastern Europeans stepped up their efforts in dealing with the mass inflows of Ukrainian refugees as the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, intensified his criticism of the UK government's response to the refugee crisis.

Khan said he was embarrassed by the Ukrainian refugee policies of the Conservative government when speaking to political leaders in European countries, which are accepting far more and more quickly.

"There's a disconnect between the generosity shown by Londoners and Brits across the country, and the actions of our government," he said.

"The complex visa forms, the delays, the red tape make it really hard."

More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country during the monthlong conflict, the United Nations says, including 1.5 million children.

The UK has faced criticism over its refugee policy as many Ukrainians have been forced to jump through bureaucratic hoops and travel long distances within Europe to get visas.

The government has launched a scheme called Homes for Ukraine, but it only allows applications from those who have named people in Britain willing to sponsor them.

More than 150,000 people have registered an interest in hosting through the program, which opened to applicants a little more than a week ago, but it is taking time to match them up.

Slow, bureaucratic

Critics have said it is too slow, bureaucratic and arduous to match applicants with homes.

Officials said last week they have issued 18,600 visas under separate provisions for Ukrainians with relatives already in the UK, with 34,500 applications submitted.

But the paltry numbers are dwarfed by other countries in Europe, some of which have taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees. Poland, which borders Ukraine, has accepted more than 2 million people fleeing the conflict.

The government of Moldova, one of Europe's poorest and smallest countries, had appealed for help to deal with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees straining critical infrastructure.

The first 134 of 2,500 Ukrainian refugees whom Germany promised to admit from Moldova arrived on Friday as part of broader European plans to help Ukraine's neighbors look after those fleeing from home.

Far in the north, Denmark also said that it is preparing for a scenario in which more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive in the country, immigration and integration minister Mattias Tesfaye said on Friday.

About 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in France, half of them traveling through the country to other places such as Spain, France's housing minister Emmanuelle Wargon said on Sunday.

The government was preparing to welcome 100,000 people, Wargon told Franceinfo radio.

France has been granting temporary European Union stay permits to Ukrainian refugees, which will allow them to have access to schools and to work in the country.

Before the conflict, the Ukrainian community in France numbered 40,000.

While in Brussels to meet with European allies, US President Joe Biden said his country would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, according to The Associated Press.

Ukraine and Russia agreed on two "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate civilians from front-line areas on Sunday, including allowing people to leave by private car from the southern city of Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

A total of 5,208 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday, a senior official said; 7,331 managed to escape the previous day.

Agencies via Xinhua