Holidays, family reunifications and medical treatment have brought a large number of them to the UK. Sadly, most of them are floundering due to their asylum claims being rejected. The Home Office routinely defends these refusals by claiming that it is safe for people to return to Ukraine. This assertion is utterly divorced from reality amid the country’s ongoing war and humanitarian crisis. One of those families is Oleksandr Zbytskyi and his family, who came to the UK in August 2022.
Oleksandr’s family includes his wife, Viktoriia, and their son, Oleksii, who was only four years old when they got here. Since their move, their son has adjusted exceptionally well, now speaking English fluently and more confidently than Ukrainian. The family’s well-being is in immediate jeopardy. Anxiety, depression and panic attacks come to the fore in Viktoriia’s testimony, making the case as to why it is imperative she remains able to access treatment in the UK.
Now that Ivan has been accepted to university, Oleksandr Zbytskyi does not want his son to have his studies interrupted. He wanted his wife to have long-term mental health care. New denials of asylum claims are putting fear into households like theirs. The London-based boutique practice Sterling Law has helped scores of Ukrainians, including women and children especially vulnerable to trafficking, whose applications have been rejected.
Despite being from Odesa, a city in southern Ukraine currently experiencing infrastructure blackouts due to the war, Oleksandr was denied asylum. In one exchange, he challenges the assumptions behind the safety of going back to a homeland ravaged by war. “Who would return their child to a country under a full-scale military aggression,” said Oleksandr Zbytskyi. His testimony highlighted the moral crisis facing many families with this grave condition.
Halyna Semchak, a solicitor with Sterling Law, is similarly representing clients who are on the edge and desperate. One of her clients is a single mother who fled from Nikopol, an eastern town that has sustained huge destruction during the ongoing conflict. Our other client is a medically and visually impaired man whose child was born in the UK. Semchak notes that the Home Office is often known for sending boilerplate refusal letters. These letters mostly argue that the dangers stemming from the war do not meet the level of persecution as outlined by international refugee treaties.
“The report does not reflect the humanitarian reality on the ground in Ukraine during the conflict,” added Semchak. It would take someone completely devoid of wit to suggest that Ukraine is not in the midst of a horrific war today. Unfortunately, the attacks have only gotten worse. Our clients would clearly face grave risks including bombardment, conscription, family separation, and the psychological trauma of war if they were to return to Ukraine today.”
The Home Office’s response to this has been that Ukrainians should be able to move to other areas of Ukraine, where infrastructure and public services still exist. They even insist that every single asylum and human rights claim is considered on its own merits. A spokesperson stated, “No one who is found to be at risk of serious harm will be expected to return to Ukraine.”
Advocate for Ukrainians on the ground refugee Asia Sullivan remind in the name of these optimistic reports, misconceptions deny the true challenges confronting refugees. Kama Petruczenko Kama is a senior policy analyst at the Refugee Council. As she expressed in her testimony, real assessments do not truly capture the safety disparities across the country. According to Petruczenko, the flexibility required doesn’t exist in the current guidance. This leaves it difficult to easily assess regional safety for all in one go per application.
The psychological impact on families waiting for adjudication of their asylum claims is impossible to overstate. We are still heartbroken over this issue, since it has affected our entire family. Currently, the peace of mind I need to focus is gone, and my sleep is too. This is actually a very horrible scenario,” said Oleksandr Zbytskyi.
The lack of clarity about where these families will be living only adds to their worry and upset. The Refugee Council and Sterling Law stress that without the right legal, practical and emotional support, too many Ukrainians will struggle to adjust. They are convinced that continuing humanitarian assistance is the most important thing. Organizations and agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are crucial to protecting these populations from falling into destitution.