Builder offering his home to Ukrainians urges Government to 'pull their fingers out' over visas

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A builder hoping to offer sanctuary in the UK to war-torn Ukrainians has urged the Government to 'pull their fingers out' and speed up the visa application process. Andrew Gilbride and his wife Grazyna, both 57, hope to take in a family at their six-bedroom home in Altrincham, Trafford.

Andrew said he signed up to the Government's Ukraine sponsorship scheme - Homes for Ukraine - as soon as it opened in late March. He's currently a sponsor to 11 people, all of whom he said have now applied for visas to enter the UK.

But 17 days on, Andrew said they have heard nothing apart from receiving confirmation emails acknowledging their applications. And as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to be marked with innocent bloodshed, he said the delay was risking the lives of the very people his family are trying to save.

Andrew, from Timperley, consulted the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Cheetham Hill before contacting desperate civilians in Ukraine over Facebook. And to illustrate the race-against-time situation, he revealed a haunting message Olena, one of those he is hoping to take in, sent him.

It read: "I am sorry Andy that for the next 12 hours I will not be contactable. When we get onto the train all mobiles must be turned off, because Russia used the geolocation on mass phone movement and destroyed a train three days ago.

"We made it to Lviv. Roman [her husband] is now burying the bodies from the block behind us. They are putting them in the park, after the police photo them (sic) for war crimes. He is broken. It has broken him."

Olena, said Andrew, has a son aged nine. He told the Manchester Evening News his family decided to act and offer sanctuary for Ukrainians 'before visas, before £350 payments and before most