Colne grandmother's desperate plight to get Ukrainian family to safety

Elena Johnston, who is originally from Ukraine but moved to England after meeting her late husband Tim, has been desperately trying for days to get her daughter, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren to her home in Foulridge, Colne.

However the 61-year-old has faced several hurdles in the process and her concerns continue to grow as her family await an appointment with the British Visa centre in Warsaw – which isn’t scheduled to take place until Wednesday.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Mrs Johnston said: “People are fleeing Ukraine not because they want to leave, but because they are fearing for their lives. They need support now – moral, mental and physical.

“This Government don’t even know what to do to help our people, it is so upsetting. The people leaving Ukraine don’t want to live in foreign countries, they want to go back to their homes, it is not their wish to leave – it is necessary to save their children.”

Elena and her late husband of 18 years, Tim.

At present the family, who fled the Ukrainian capital after they woke up to the sound of bombs falling around them, are staying in a hotel thanks to the help of an  non-governmental organisation called the ICAD foundation, who they were put in touch with through a network of Tim’s former school friends, who have stayed in touch with Elena since his death.

Meanwhile the women’s husbands and children’s fathers have remained in the country defending their land from the Russian invasion.

“They are out there protecting our country. I am worried about them, but if my son was trying to flee to safety, I would be ashamed. He is there to protect his country, he is doing the right thing,” Mrs Johnston, who is a volunteer at a charity shop, added.

Mrs Johnston and her friends have been working tirelessly to seek assurances from the Government and their local MPs that her family will be granted visas, but the matter has been complicated as one of grandchildren, Violetta, does not have a passport.

The other members of the fleeing family – daughter Maryna and daughter-in-law Katerina along with their children, 11-year-old Milana and two-year-old Mark, are in possession of passports. Mrs Johnston’s children, who are from a previous relationship, are all Ukrainian nationals.

The family as they were fleeing Kviv

One of Tim’s schoolfriends, Rowena Harbour, has been helping to support the family throughout the process, writing to Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson for help and advice on the situation.

Ms Harbour said: “You look at all of the other European countries and they are allowing free entry and travel – I am disgusted with our government, it’s terrible.

“I wrote to Mr Stephenson in the hope of urgently getting some clarity on the situation, particularly in relation to Violetta, who does not have a passport. It took three attempts to get something useful back.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that people have come together to help the family, they would be much worse off.”

Ms Harbour went on to explain how Mrs Johnston had to fill in an application for each family member on the British Government website before they were allocated an appointment at the visa centre, where they will have to have their photos and fingerprints taken and an assessment of their circumstances will be carried out before a decision is made.

Family friend Rowena Harbour, who has been helping

When contacted, Mr Stephenson said he would do all he can to ensure the family’s safe passage into the country, stating: “I am in touch with the family and providing assistance. Ukrainians without passports can still apply for visas.

“The government recognises those who fled Ukraine may have lost or not have a passport, so we can use other methods to identify them and produce documents which will allow them to travel to the UK.

“Once the family have applied for visas, I will do everything in my power to ensure they are issued without delay.”

The Home Secretary Priti Patel has come under increasing criticism in recent days for not doing enough to help Ukrainians to find sanctuary in the UK after announcing a limited series of changes to the visa regime.

From Tuesday (March 15) many Ukrainians will be able to apply online for permission to come under the scheme allowing family members to be reunited with relatives already settled in the UK.

But the British Red Cross said the quickest way of fixing the problem would be to remove the requirement for a visa, while the Refugee Council said Ms Patel’s announcement “does not go anywhere near far enough”.

Ministers have insisted that visa checks are required to make sure Vladimir Putin does not send Russian agents posing as refugees.

So far around 2.2 million people have left in a crisis unseen in Europe since the Second World War.

Violetta and Milasha at home in Ukraine

Describing the circumstances under which her family was forced to leave their homes, the Foulridge resident of 18 years said she had to beg her children to leave and save themselves.

She said: “Before the bombing started, I asked my children to leave and they told me no, that everything and everyone will be OK.

“On February 24 they woke up to loud noises and bombing, jumping from their beds they left in the car. It was not easy to leave Kyiv, the traffic was awful, and it was a long and slow journey. Initially they went to the home of my daughter-in-law’s parents. They were still so scared there – it was quieter but there were still sirens and alarms.

“I told them not to stay, that they don’t know what might happen. I said please save yourself, save your children, pushed them and begged them to leave. They eventually found a minibus which was heading for the Polish border.

“They spent hours on the bus as it was using small country roads but at least they were on their way to safety.”

Now staying in a hotel with limited belongings and little food the family are facing an agonising wait of more than a week before their appointment with the UK visa application centre.

Little Mark eats a meal at the hotel in Poland

The family found accommodation through another school friend of Tim, Alison Taylor, who is now based in Switzerland. Ms Taylor’s daughter-in-law, Edyta, runs a non-profit organisation called ICAD, which provides support to groups in need, providing humanitarian aid and supporting development activities wherever conflicts, disasters, injustice or poverty have complicated society’s development.

Speaking about all of the help she has received, Mrs Johnston said: “We have been so lucky, and I have told them that. No they don’t have proper food, but they are in a safe place now. Many people don’t have that, they don’t even have food or water. People are sleeping on the ground or in tents.

“Yes it is hard for them, they have two teenagers with them and an active two-year-old boy. But at the very least for now they are safe.”

Violetta, Milana and Mark

Brierfield East and Clover Hill and Labour Councillor Eileen Ansar has also been approached by the family and their friends for help.

She said: “It’s a terrible situation, we are supposed to be a caring Christian nation and we can’t even provide these people with the immediate shelter they need.

“Their visa appointment should be pushed forward - I don’t know why it is being made so hard. They are a young family with a two-year-old child and their husbands have stayed behind to defend their country.

“At the end of the day these people seeking refuge don’t want to stay here, they have their own homes, lives and families. They are fleeing because they are desperate.

“They have been here before on holiday, obtained visa and are in the system. They should be brought here immediately and the paperwork can be worried about at a later date.”

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