One Ukrainian family's journey to London
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's been six weeks since the British government opened a new immigration route to help Ukrainian refugees come to the UK - 'Homes for Ukraine'. Amongst the reports of bureaucratic delays and safety issues, we hear about the scheme from the two sides at the heart of it: Ukrainian refugees and their host family.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guests:
- Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Editor, The Times
- John and Sue Rutherford, UK host family.
- Damian Whitworth, Feature Writer, The Times.
- Nataliia, Paulina and Tisha Shynhyrii, Ukrainian refugees.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: Parliament TV, EU Commission, Sky News, BBC News, ITV.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | On the 14th of March, two and a half weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine and amid mounting |
| 0:13.9 | cries from the British public to do more to help, the government launched a new visa scheme |
| 0:21.4 | called Holmes for Ukraine. |
| 0:24.3 | The unfailingly compassionate British public wants to help further, which is why Mr |
| 0:29.7 | Speaker today we're answering that call with the announcement of a new sponsorship scheme, |
| 0:34.6 | Holmes for Ukraine. |
| 0:41.4 | It's now been six weeks since that announcement, and things haven't quite gone to plan. |
| 0:48.4 | It's not going too well, so far, and I think even pretty Patel and Home Office |
| 0:52.3 | ministers and officials admit that it's going much slower than initially hoped for. |
| 0:57.3 | Thousands are still stuck, waiting to come to the UK, even though they found families who |
| 1:03.5 | are willing to host them. Their rescue clogged up by bureaucracy, and that's not even the worst of |
| 1:11.2 | the problems. There's been quite a lot of exploitation involved some single men who are trying to |
| 1:18.4 | lure Ukrainian women over who are obviously vulnerable and desperate for accommodation, |
| 1:23.0 | and they're offering and consisting on sexual favors and responses to that. |
| 1:28.4 | For those who have made it to Britain, there's relief and sorrow. |
| 1:33.8 | It was just so heartbreaking to live husband. He stayed there and we crossed the border. |
| 1:42.6 | You're listening to stories of our times from the times and the Sunday times. I'm Manvin Rana. |
| 1:55.6 | Today, one Ukrainian family's journey to London. |
| 2:12.9 | John Rutherford here. |
| 2:19.6 | Hi John, this is Manvin from the Times. |
| 2:23.3 | Hello. Hello, thanks so much for talking to me. |
| 2:28.2 | For the past month, we've been speaking to a man named John Rutherford. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.