Humanitarian support

homes for ukraine

 

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

 

 We are supporting Ukrainians fleeing the conflict:

  • We are launching our uncapped Homes for Ukraine scheme, allowing sponsors in the UK to support Ukrainians fleeing this deadly conflict. We are launching our Homes for Ukraine scheme today, allowing sponsors in the UK – who will receive £350 a month in support – to register their interest in providing homes or spare rooms for a minimum stay of six months to nominated individual Ukrainians or Ukrainian families.
  • We are streamlining the Ukraine Family Scheme so that Ukrainians with passports can get permission to come here online, speeding up the application process. As of Tuesday 15 March, Ukrainians with passports coming to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme can apply online and undertake biometrics checks once they arrive in Britain – speeding up the application process and making sure they can get to safety quickly.
  • We are increasing capacity and deploying extra staff to Visa Application Centres, making sure that as many Ukrainians as possible can be processed quickly. Expert Home Office staff have travelled to Poland to ensure rapid visa service, building on previous increases in capacity in Poland, Hungary, and Moldova and the opening of a new pop-up Visa Application Centre in Rzeszow, Poland. We have also increased the capacity at these Centres to 13,000 appointments per week – and are allowing those with passports to submit applications online to free up in-person appointments.
  • We appointed a new Refugees Minister to coordinate support for those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Richard Harrington has been appointed Minister for Refugees at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and the Home Office to coordinate and accelerate our support for Ukrainian refugees fleeing Putin’s unprovoked aggression.
  • We are supporting British nationals and people settled in the UK to bring family members here, reuniting them and helping them to bring their loved ones to safety. We have launched our Ukraine Family Scheme, which will support British nationals and others settled in the UK to bring immediate family members, parents, grandparents, adult children and siblings to the UK. Essential security checks will take place, but normal requirements for salary will be waived and those joining family will be granted leave for three years – giving them certainty and ensuring their future in the country.
  • We are extending the visas of Ukrainians currently in the UK, providing certainty to Ukrainian friends and colleagues living, working and studying here. Building on the immediate support provided in recent weeks to assist British Nationals to leave Ukraine, we have now confirmed that Ukrainians who are on work, study or visit visas in the UK will have their visas temporarily extended or be able to switch onto different visa route.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  • We are making benefits accessible from day one for Ukrainian's arriving in the United Kingdom who are fleeing Putin's war. Due to Putin’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, we are helping as many Ukrainians as we can to come to the United Kingdom, and we want to make this process as simple as possible for those arriving here.  That is why we are laying emergency regulations today so those arriving can access Universal Credit and support from Work Coaches to find jobs from day one. We are also providing translation services and face-to-face assistance to those who need it. This will allow those fleeing the unimaginable horrors in Ukraine to rapidly get the support and help they need and move forward with their lives immediately. 

 

 We are providing humanitarian support to Ukraine in its time of need:

  • We are the largest bilateral humanitarian donor to Ukraine, with almost £400 million in aid pledged to help the Ukrainian people. We are providing £220 million in aid for basic necessities like medical supplies to support their response, as well as a £74 million through the World Bank to support the Ukrainian government directly and a £100 million economic package to support Ukraine financially, including helping them to reduce their reliance on Russian energy supplies.
  • We are providing £74 million to Ukraine through the World Bank to support their government’s response to Russia’s invasion. We have allocated an additional $100 million (£74 million) as part of a direct grant to the Ukrainian Government to help them mitigate the financial pressures caused by Russia’s invasion – funding which could be used to support public sector salaries, allowing critical state functions to keep operating, as well as to support social safety nets and pensions for the Ukrainian people.
  • We are matching the first £25 million donated to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, making the British people’s support for Ukraine go further. We will match donations to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal pound-for-pound up to £20 million, so that the public’s support for charities providing food, water, shelter and healthcare to refugees and displaced families goes even further.
  • We are guaranteeing up to $500 million of Ukrainian Development Bank financing, injecting vital capital into Ukraine and helping its economy weather the storm of Russian aggression. We stand ready to offer guarantees of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) lending for projects that will support economic stability and vital reforms such as tackling anti-corruption.
  • We are donating more than 500 mobile generators to Ukraine, helping to keep essential services running. We are donating more than 500 mobile generators to Ukraine, providing much needed energy to essential facilities including hospitals, shelters and water treatment plants.
  • We are bringing 21 Ukrainian children with cancer to the UK to receive NHS care, bringing the most vulnerable to safety. We are bringing some of the most vulnerable in Ukraine to safety, including 21 Ukrainian children with cancer and their immediate family members who have been brought to the UK to receive lifesaving treatment through the NHS.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
  • We have supplied over 11 million items of medical supplies to Ukraine – including 300,000 sterile needles, 32,000 bandages, 160,000 wound packs, 220,000 packs of medicine, and 175,000 doses of crucial medicines for diabetics and people with chronic conditions. We are doing everything possible to support the Ukrainian people by giving direct aid to Ukraine and ensuring Putin fails through military aid and by economically crippling the Russian war machine.                                                                                                                                                                           
  • We are supplying Ukraine with 22 new ambulances and 40 fire engines - equipped with paramedic kits, medical bags, 300 fire hoses and almost 10,000 items of protective clothing. We are boosting our humanitarian support to Ukraine, sending new ambulances, fire engines and funding for health experts to better equip the Ukrainian people to deliver vital healthcare. This is on top of new trade measures that will see tariffs on all goods from Ukraine cut to zero, providing much-needed economic support.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  • We are contributing a further £10 million in materials to repair Ukrainian railways to get grain out of the country on rail. Ukraine is the 'breadbasket of Europe', but because of Putin's unjustified and illegal invasion, 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat cannot be exported. This has put over 47 million people around the world on the brink of disaster, with food scarcity a real possibility. That is why we are committed to rebuilding Ukraine's railway, to ensure that their wheat and corn can reach the places it needs to be. This will both curve food scarcity, and bolster Ukraine's economy during these tough times.