A baffled TV presenter in Ukraine confronted the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister over help for war refugees while a siren blared behind him.
Sky News’ Mark Austin told Dominic Raab “why are we not doing more?” as he asked if a 75-year-old woman in a Kyiv basement could get to Britain.
As the warning of a Russian strike on the capital sounded in the background, Mr Raab replied: “I can’t comment on every potential hypothetical case.
“Of course we understand the difficulties of the practical situation on the ground. That’s common to most conflict zones.
“We’ll work with all our international partners and the UN to try to resolve that and make sure we continue this tradition of offering safe haven to those fleeing persecution.”
Mr Raab, whose family fled the Holocaust, insisted he understood the urgency of the situation as the “son of a refugee myself”. But Labour MP Angela Eagle tweeted: “Awful lack of empathy & assistance.”
Boris Johnson will travel to Poland and Estonia today for crisis talks as calls mount for him to do more to open UK borders to more refugees.
He is facing anger after, so far, only waiving visas for the closest Ukrainian family members of people already living in Britain.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said last night that she will announce "further changes" in "the next few days".
Around 100,000 are eligible for the UK's current offer - but the EU plans to offer fleeing Ukrainians the right to stay and work for up to three years. And the 100,000 total is thought to be the entire total of potentially eligible close family members in Ukraine - not an estimate of how many will actually come.
Ms Patel told ITV : “We're absolutely working on this, because we just don't know what tomorrow will bring.
“You know, this is a very difficult time in Ukraine, we're seeing harrowing scenes, there are people that are leaving.
“Clearly alongside that though, I must emphasise this, we are working with the Ukrainian government because primarily you know people want to stay in the region.”
But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC : "At the moment, what the Home Office is doing is trying to just tweak the existing system.
"They're trying to carry on with a version of business as usual, with a version of asking people to apply for traditional work visas or traditional visitor visas or traditional family visas that are still narrowly drawn.
"And the normal system just doesn't work when you are facing war in Europe.”
Later, Boris Johnson hurriedly announced an expansion of the UK's help for Ukrainian refugees.
On Sunday ministers announced close family members of people already settled in the UK could join them from Ukraine.
But only close family members were eligible prompting furious calls to go further.
Ministers claimed it could help up to 100,000 people, but this was only a rough estimate of the number potentially eligible - not the number expected to actually come.
Today Mr Johnson announced that will extend to wider family members - adult parents, grandparents, children over 18 and siblings.
There will also be a sponsorship route for firms to bring Ukrainians to the UK.
But No10 said there was no further extension for now, despite the EU preparing to announce all Ukrainian refugees can live and work for three years.
At least 400,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered the EU so far.
It comes after reports a vacuum bomb was used in Ukraine, after concerns grew among Western officials that the weapons could be deployed.
They raised “significant concern” last night about evidence the TOS-1A thermobaric rocket launcher was present among Russian forces.
A Western official said: “Given the indiscriminate nature of that system, and it is certainly if it’s used in any form of built-up area, there is no way in which you could eradicate the risk of significant civilian casualties through the use of those sorts of systems.”
Britain's UN Ambassador Dame Barbara Woodward has warned Ukraine is on the brink of a "humanitarian catastrophe".
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will say Putin has “blood on his hands” in an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva just before lunchtime.
She will say: “Tanks are tearing through towns while missiles barrage homes and hospitals. Putin is murdering Ukrainians indiscriminately.
"There is blood on his hands, not just of innocent Ukrainians but the men he sent to die.
“Putin is violating international law, including the UN Charter. He is violating human rights on an industrial scale and the world will not stand for it.”
Sky News presenter Mr Austin asked Mr Raab “are we being a bit mean spirited on visas?”
The TV host told the deputy PM :”A 75-year-old woman living now in a basement in the capital here who has her son living in London.
“Can she go and join him?”
Current rules suggest a pensioner cannot join their grown-up child living in the UK, unless the child is caring for them or a similar situation.
Mr Raab replied: “The Home Secretary has set out the plans for a bespoke humanitarian scheme for Ukraine, allowing up to 100,000 to come here, the dependents of British nationals in the UK, the dependents of Ukrainians living in this country.
“And I think that’s the right way to approach.”
As the air raid siren blared, Mr Austin said: “The siren’s just going off here.
“How does the 75 year old woman, living with sirens going off, living in a basement, get to her son who’s living in London?
“Can she do that? I can’t see how she does? How does she go to Lviv, 11 hours drive away, get a visa, and then - it just doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t see how she can get to her son in London under the current system.”
Mr Raab insisted it was a “consistent feature” of humanitarian disasters that there are “difficulties on the ground”, but some “fleeing through fear” will get out.”
Mr Austin pointed out that the EU will say any Ukrainian can come in for up to three years, adding: “Why are we not doing more?
“My point about the 75 year old woman is a real one.”
Mr Raab replied: “Yes, but I can’t comment on every potential hypothetical case.
“What I’ve just set out is the circumstances and of course we understand the difficulties of the practical situation on the ground.
“That’s common to most conflict zones… we’ll work with all our international partners and the UN to try to resolve that and make sure we continue this tradition of offering safe haven to those fleeing persecution.”
In Poland, Boris Johnson will meet Prime Minister Morawiecki before meeting NATO's Secretary General and UK troops in Estonia.
The Prime Minister will also meet Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Estonian President Alar Karis.
Dominic Raab warned Vladimir Putin could respond with "even more barbaric tactics" and “we must be prepared that this could be a long haul”.
He did not rule out supplying Ukraine with fighter jets to defend itself against Russia, telling LBC: “We've been clear that we've provided training, we've provided anti-tank weapons and all I would say is nothing is off the table."
But he continued to rule out the UK enforcing a no-fly zone to aid Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Putting UK forces in the position where they would be directly required to shoot down Russian planes, I agree with the analysis... both in terms with feeding (Vladimir) Putin's narrative, but also from the point of the view of the distinction between what we would do for a Nato ally and the Ukraine, which is a close partner, we want to support, but we will not get involved directly in military operations against Russian forces.
"We have considered a no-fly zone but, for the reasons I've given, the international community as a whole has decided against it."
