Relatives Of Settled Ukrainians In The UK Are Allowed To Visit

The prime minister has announced that people who have settled in the UK would be permitted to bring their Ukrainian closest family members with them.

Boris Johnson stated that the United Kingdom would not "turn its back on Ukraine in its hour of need."

He told a congregation in a Ukrainian church that he had never witnessed "such a clear divide between good and evil" as the turmoil in Ukraine.

Later, he announced an additional £40 million in humanitarian help for the country.

In the midst of the escalating Russian invasion, the government is facing mounting pressure to relax visa requirements for Ukrainians seeking asylum in the UK.

Only those Ukrainians who were judged to be "dependents" of those already in the UK were guaranteed admittance prior to the recent statement.

Member states of the European Union have backed proposals to take in all Ukrainian migrants for up to three years without requiring them to seek for asylum.

The change in UK policy, according to Downing Street, will "help many thousands of people who are currently making urgent decisions about their future."

Mr Johnson, speaking to the press, said: "We want to be as generous as possible, and we certainly want individuals with Ukrainian relatives to be able to bring them across as soon as possible.

"We want to make sure that anyone fleeing calamity, violence, and persecution in Ukraine may find their way here."

Separately, he made an address to a Ukrainian congregation at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in London, promising them that the UK would do "all it can to support economically, politically, diplomatically, and militarily."

He described Ukraine's people as living through "the darkest periods in contemporary memory," calling Russia's incursion a "barbaric and unjustified attack."

Boris Johnson met with members of the Ukrainian community in London's Mayfair at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral.

Mr Johnson told the Catholic cathedral congregation that Ukrainians were both ideologically and geographically neighbors to the UK, with hundreds of thousands of people living in the country.