A 90-year-old Ukrainian Holocaust survivor has arrived safely in the UK to join her London granddaughter after fleeing Russian bombing raids in Ukraine.
Kateryna Razumenko fled her home in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, along with her 62-year-old daughter Larisa, to escape a shelling in the city that killed four people earlier this week, two of them children.
After spending a week in Poland awaiting UK Home Office review, Ms Razumenko and her disabled daughter finally received their visas.
The mother and daughter landed at Heathrow Airport on Saturday to join their British family, Ms Razumenko’s granddaughter Katya and her husband Zach Newman, who live in Mill Hill, north London.
The cute photo shows Ms Razumenko, who suffers from dementia, arriving at Heathrow Airport, where she is greeted by her loved ones and was seen holding a bouquet of yellow flowers in her hand.
Ms Razumenko, born in Kharkiv in 1931, left her native country for the first time in her life and became a refugee after Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, reports The Telegraph.
Holocaust survivor Kateryna Razumenko, 90, landed safely at Heathrow Airport (pictured upon arrival) after fleeing the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with her 62-year-old daughter Larisa.
When the shelling came just meters from the 7th-floor apartment Ms Razumenko shares with her daughter, they decided to flee the country, according to ITV News.
A 90-year-old man survived the “Holodomor” – a famine that struck Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 as a result of Stalin’s policy of forced collectivization and claimed the lives of millions of people.
She also survived the horrors of the Nazi invasion and the Holocaust during World War II, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ms Razumenko and her daughter fled Ukraine by train, taking just one purse each and Solomon, a 15-year-old cat, before arriving in Poland.
Ms Razumenko’s granddaughter Katya, who lives in north London after leaving Ukraine in 2015, still had connections in the country and was able to help them make the journey west.
But their journey was halted in Poland for about a week while they waited for their UK visas to be processed so they could join their family in London.
Born in Kharkiv in 1931, Ms Razumenko (pictured) left her native country for the first time in her life and became a refugee after Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Kharkiv was heavily bombed due to the Russian invasion. In the photo: rescue work is underway after the attack
Following their family’s request, the Ministry of the Interior reportedly expedited their case, and their visas were reportedly issued within 24 hours.
Katya’s husband Zak traveled to the Polish city of Otwock to help Ms Razumenko and Larisa return to London, where they finally landed safely on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of their arrival in London, Katya told ITV News that she knew it would be “tough” for her family to return to the UK, but “remained positive”.
“I just want to see them here, I want them to come and I want to give them love. I want to stay with them,” she added.
It is believed that their beloved cat Solomon has still not been able to reach the UK and cannot leave Poland until May in accordance with DEFRA guidelines.
According to the UN, more than 2.5 million people have left Ukraine. More than 1.5 million refugees moved to Poland, but it is believed that about 40 percent of them subsequently left for other countries.
Unlike the European Union, which allows Ukrainians to stay for three years without a visa, the UK has maintained control over the entry of refugees, saying it is necessary for security.
After spending a week in Poland awaiting clearance at the Ministry of the Interior, Ms Razumenko and her daughter (both pictured with Ms Razumenko’s daughter’s husband Zach Newman), who is disabled, finally received their visas.
According to the UN, more than 2.5 million people have left Ukraine. Pictured: residents stand next to a bus preparing to be evacuated from Kharkiv on March 12.
The current visa route for people fleeing the war in Ukraine is limited to family members of people living in the UK.
Earlier this week, Boris Johnson defended the country’s response to the crisis and said a pending scheme would allow the British to take citizens from the war-torn country back to their homes.
This scheme would allow the British to house people fleeing the war in a spare room, or perhaps give them work. However, anyone offering to host a Ukrainian refugee is expected to be subject to a background check by the Disclosure and Ban Service, further slowing down the process.
Dozens of Ukrainian families were rejected in Calais, and only 760 received visas under the Home Office’s Family Support Scheme, despite tens of thousands of applications.
Following mounting criticism, Priti Patel announced major changes to the visa regime on Thursday, but charities said they didn’t go far enough.
Another promised route is expected to be launched on Monday, allowing individuals and companies to sponsor non-UK-related Ukrainians to visit the country.
Tony Stein, chief executive of Healthcare Management Solutions, suggested on Saturday that Ukrainians fleeing the war could find work and housing in the British healthcare sector.
A view of a shelled cafe in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Saturday.
Asked if his business might be interested in participating in the government’s new refugee sponsorship scheme, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “Absolutely. I mean, we have a shortage of people in the care sector in our country. We have many vacancies throughout the country.
“Many operators have work-related housing. And there has to be a way, I think, to combine the two things and help some of the incoming refugees who may very well have the skills we are looking for… they could be nurses or people who used to take care of who is perfect for the role in this country .
But I don’t think it’s that easy to do. You know, obviously, there are some issues that we need to address – for example, if people come with children… the accommodation may not be suitable for families, and indeed, the local authorities may not allow us to accommodate families in some of these accommodations.
“Let’s start with, do we have housing, do we have free places? Yes. We just need to work together with local authorities and government right now to figure out how we can do it.”
Home Secretary Baroness Williams Trafford told colleagues that 1,305 visas had been issued for Ukrainian refugees as of Thursday morning, adding: “These numbers are rising fast, which is a good thing.”