PRITI Patel is expected to announce new measures to help Ukrainians find refuge in the UK.
The government has come under fire in recent days for its lack of support for those fleeing the country, with one minister forced to delete a social media post over the weekend in which he suggested Ukrainians could come and work in the UK as fruit pickers.
Ben Wallace, UK defence secretary, suggested this morning that the Home Office were making preparations to announce a new programme to enable Ukrainians to come to the UK more easily.
EU countries have already said Ukrainians will be welcome to settle there for three years without having to apply for a visa.
Boris Johnson said that Ukrainians who have family members settled in the UK would be allowed to join them, however Mr Wallace suggested this was only a "first step" in what the government plans to do.
Labour called for ministers to immediately extend the opportunity for Ukrainians to come to the UK to wider relatives before setting out a “broader sanctuary route” to help others.
Mr Wallace said he does not doubt the UK will go further to match the “very generous” schemes that have helped in other conflicts.
He told the Today programme: “I think what I would say is, you know, our track record so far, both with Afghans and the Arap (Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy) scheme, and indeed with the Hong Kong nationals who were suffering persecution, has been actually very generous, so there’s no reason to doubt we won’t continue on that path.”
He said it is not yet clear whether the European Union’s approach will be to support refugees on the border, with the hope they will be able to return to Ukraine soon.
But he added that the UK response will be discussed by senior ministers today.
The Home Secretary will field questions this afternoon from MPs, and is expected to announce what other measures are being implemented then.
Tom Tugendhat, the senior Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, also anticipated further measures for refugees as being “likely”.
“I’ve been speaking to ministers this morning and I can tell you there are many who are hopeful that this will be something that’s reviewed in the coming days,” he told Today.
Asked about the EU scheme to grant asylum to Ukrainian refugees for up to three years, Mr Tugendhat said: “I suspect that’s likely to be where we end up, to be honest.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said it is “shameful” for the Government to “refuse to even help other relatives in a terrible European war like this”.
Mr Putin cited “aggressive statements” from the Nato defence alliance and the financial sanctions imposed in response to his invasion in issuing orders to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons.
The Treasury is targeting Russia’s central bank with sanctions in a response co-ordinated with the US and European allies.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the move shows the “steadfast resolve in imposing the highest costs on Russia and to cut her off from the international financial system so long as this conflict persists”.
The defence secretary also dismissed Vladimir Putin putting his nuclear forces on heightened alert as being a part of the Kremlin’s “battle of rhetoric” rather than a real threat.
He suggested that it was an attempt to distract from the war on the ground, with Putin seeking to remind other leaders of his nuclear capabilities.
Mr Wallace said: “We will not do anything to escalate in that area, we will not do anything to feed any miscalculation, we take it very, very seriously.
“But at the moment this is a battle of rhetoric that President Putin is deploying, and we just have to make sure we manage it properly.”
He warned that the Russian offensive in Ukraine is likely to become “more violent”, as troops close in around the capital, Kyiv.
Despite the continued assault, Ukraine has agreed to talks with Moscow and is sending a delegation to the border with Belarus for the meeting.
A rare emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly will discuss the crisis in Ukraine today, beginning at 10am in New York (3pm GMT).
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