“The UK stands behind Ukraine in their darkest hour and the British public understand the need to get as many people to safety as quickly as we can.”…reports Asian Lite News
The government announced that it will offer £350 #per month to households if they host refugees fleeing from war-torn Ukraine, a media report said.
Under its ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, the government called on people to “offer a spare room or an empty property to a refugee for a period of at least six months.”
According to Micheal Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, the government will launch the new scheme on Monday, and “will initially enable someone – a sponsor – to nominate a named Ukrainian individual or family to stay with them in their home, or in a separate property, for six months”.
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Sponsors will not be required to know them in advance – they might find them, for example, through posts on social media.
Applications would be made online, with both sponsors and refugees having to go through a home office vetting procedure. The sponsor would get a “thank you” payment of 350 pounds a month.
In a later phase, organisations such as charities and churches will be able to do the same, though there is no start date for this yet, the BBC reported.
Announcing the plan on Saturday, Gove said: “The crisis in Ukraine has sent shock waves across the world as hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been forced to flee their homes, leaving everything they know and love behind.
“The UK stands behind Ukraine in their darkest hour and the British public understand the need to get as many people to safety as quickly as we can.”
The development comes after the UK government has faced widespread criticism for its slow response to the Ukraine crisis. So far, only 1,000 refugees have been given UK visas, the BBC said, adding that only those with family connections have been able to make an application, via the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, over two million people have the war-torn nation. The UN has termed it as the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Russian Mercenaries
Russia has opened 14 mercenary recruitment centres in Syria and is also training mercenaries from Libya. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“Putin’s Russia has opened 14 recruitment centres for mercenaries in Syria in the territories controlled by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. After a short training, the mercenaries will be transported to Russia through the Khmeimim airbase by two Tu-134 aircraft which can carry up to 80 passengers and Tu-154 (up to 180 passengers) to the Chkalovsky airbase, Moscow region”, UNIAN reported.
Intelligence notes that in recent days, Russia has already gathered thousands of Syrian mercenaries into the ranks of the occupying forces, in particular, these are members of the so-called “National Defense Militia” and units of the 5th Corps of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is assumed that the Syrians will use heavy artillery and sniper weapons against the Ukrainians.
The report says that information has been confirmed about the preparation by Russia of mercenaries from Libya to be involved in hostilities in Ukraine.
“Russia will pay foreign mercenaries a monthly salary of between $300 and $600,” Ukrainian intelligence reports.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian Federation overturned part of the “peacekeeping” contingent from Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan) to Ukraine.
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