Disabled people 'forgotten victims in Ukraine'

A woman who flew to Ukraine via Poland to rescue her paralysed brother fears "the forgotten causalities of war" are people with disabilities.

Olena Florek, from Staffordshire, travelled to Warsaw to try to get a UK visa for brother Volodymyr.

After waiting 24 hours for it to be processed, she then made her way to Lviv to meet her mother and brother.

The Home Office said its visa processes had been streamlined to enable more Ukrainians to come to the UK.

Mrs Florek's brother requires 24/7 care as he is paralysed from the neck down.

He also has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, after contracting meningitis as a young boy.

"When it is war, not many people talk about those with mental health [issues], people with disabilities, care homes; we don't hear or see or know, but they are there," said Mrs Florek.

"Nobody mentions about these people and their situation.

"Have they been abandoned? Can they drink water or [are they] just left at Russian soldiers' mercy? We know they show no mercy," said Mrs Florek.

In April, BBC News reported on a disabled woman who was reunited with her nephew, who lives in the UK, after volunteers stepped in to bring the woman and the man's mother out of Ukraine.

Mother-of-two Mrs Florek, 36, left her family as she said she had no choice but to fly to Warsaw on a "whim" as she could no longer "just wait for someone's mercy" at the Home Office, after waiting more than three weeks to hear about her brother's visa.

"I couldn't live with myself knowing I haven't done everything in my power to save my close family. He is my only brother and he is precious," she said.

She said she had been told the delays were due to her brother not having a biometric passport, which was due to his severe disabilities.

"I needed to go and help. If I didn't help, nobody would help them," she added.

While waiting for her brother's UK visa to be processed in Warsaw, Mrs Florek said she had felt "broken and exhausted" after spending a day trying to interpret and translate to help others applying.

"They are people who are dealing with trauma, desperation; people who have no money; people who've lost loved ones; people who've left them; people with nothing; people trying to find a sponsor, someone who can provide shelter."

The 36-year-old said there was "a big gap" and more needed to be done to find people who could speak fluent Ukrainian and English, adding many were relying on phone apps to communicate.

Her family, who lived in a rural area south of Kyiv, made their journey through checkpoints and areas with a heavy military presence to get to Lviv, in western Ukraine.

Mrs Florek said spending 24 hours in Lviv had been "petrifying, not knowing if we would make it out" as air raid sirens blared.

She speaks several languages and was able to negotiate a place for her brother to travel to the Polish city of Krakow in an ambulance and a van.

The family members then met Mrs Florek's husband for an 800-mile (1,200km), two-day trip back to Staffordshire in his van.

Now their modest terraced house in Stafford is home to her, her 10-year-old son, teenage daughter, husband, mother and 45-year-old brother.

Ms Florek said her mother Halyna hoped to return to Ukraine "in a matter of weeks" but had come to the realisation that was "impossible".

"She just cried today.

"My mum wanted to visit me here, she has never been here ever... They would say to me 'one day' but that is not what I wanted. Not the way it has happened," said Mrs Florek.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "In response to Putin's barbaric invasion, we have launched one of the fastest and biggest visa schemes in UK history.

"In just five weeks, over 56,000 visas have been issued so people can rebuild their lives in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine.

"Our Ukraine schemes have reached a turning point, thanks to the changes we've made to streamline the visa system, including simplifying the forms and boosting staff.

"Around 3,500 applications have been processed a day in the last few days, enabling thousands more Ukrainians to come through our uncapped routes."

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