Fareham mum's desperate plea to Britain to help her mum flee bombed Ukrainian city fails

Heartbroken Hanna Greentree, of Fareham, has been desperately trying to secure a visa from the Home Office to allow her 65-year-old mother Iryna Pavlova to flee to the UK.

But the Ukrainian national, who has lived in Britain since 2017, claims the Home Office has rejected her plea, saying Mrs Greentree’s frightened mum will instead have to travel to Poland and claim refugee status there instead.

But the 65-year-old has no hope of escaping her home in Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The metropolis is under heavy attack by Russian tanks, soldiers and missiles, with Mrs Pavlova having to cower in a makeshift bomb shelter inside a supermarket basement.

Holding back tears, an emotional Mrs Greentree told The News: ‘I’m just so angry. She is my mum. She is an old lady.

‘The Home Office said she is supposed to get to Poland but she can’t do that. She can’t speak the language there and has no-one to help her.

‘The government said she is supposed to apply for a regular visa. It’s a joke. She is in a bomb shelter. It’s ridiculous.’

The Home Office has set up a temporary concession for Visa applications for family members of British nationals who usually live in Ukraine.

But it has stopped accepting visa applications from Ukrainians stuck in the country, with its visa application centre in the capital city, Kyiv, now closed.

Hanna is now frantically searching for Good Samaritans in Ukraine to step in and help transport her mum to the city of Lviv, close to the border of Poland, where she hopes her mum could then find sanctuary.

In a desperate last-ditch attempt, Mrs Greenfield has written to attorney general and Fareham MP, Suella Braverman, pleading for help.

‘My mum is completely alone in Ukraine. Her friends left her when they drove away,’ said Hanna.

‘I’m now begging people to take my mum somewhere safe. She is just living in a bomb shelter now. All she has are her identity papers.’

Hanna added: ‘We are willing to provide everything for our mum if she can come to the UK.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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