A young girl who was initially denied a visa and sent back to Ukraine has finally been given a home in the UK so she can leave the war-torn country.
Alika Zubets has finally safely arrived in Britain - and she did so on her fifth birthday.
After Russia invaded the Ukraine, Alika left her home with her grandmother, Tanya, 58, back in March, reports the StokeOnTrentLive.
The Mirror has previously reported how she only got as far as Poland when she had to return to her family Kharkiv after being refused a UK visa because she was not with her parents.
But the now the smiling youngster is settling into her new life in Britain and has already started school.
Her sponsor Dr Maggie Babb, a paediatric anaesthetist at Royal Stoke University Hospital, Staffs, who has five children of her own, said: “We’ve had to sponsor Alika under the unaccompanied minors scheme, which has required us to accept parental responsibility for three years, and for the council to approve the application under the private fostering scheme.
“It’s a significantly different commitment from the original six months but our children were all very clear that we had to get her out of danger, regardless of the potential impact on them.”
Alika arrived last Friday and Dr Babb, from Audley, Staffs, added: “It’s been a long road to get to this point, but with a lot of determination and help, it now seems that Alika will, at last be able to stay here safely until the awful situation this family finds themselves in improves enough to allow them to be together again.”
Alika’s parents had to remain in Kharkiv - just 25 miles from the Russian border - as father Dima is unable to leave the country and mother Arena is the sole carer for her own disabled mother.
But grandmother Tanya’s cousin Oksana lives in Newcastle-under-Lyne, Staffordshire.
Oksana’s husband Karl Stubbs, chair of the Newcastle branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said: “Six months is a long time to wait and it is a big relief that Alika has now arrived, on her fifth birthday.
"She is a lot safer here than in Kharkiv. It’s still early days and it feels a big adventure for a five-year-old, but we are all delighted, relieved, and here for Alika.”
