Ukrainian refugees 'upset' after being moved to caravan park 170 miles from pals
Ukrainian refugees who have spent months building their new lives in part of Wales have been left upset and frustrated after being moved 170 miles away.
After arriving in the UK from the war-torn country, they have worked hard to establish a life for themselves, including putting their children in school and getting jobs.
Now, they're being told they need to move on and move away from friends, Wales Online reports.
The families said they were told to leave a Welsh-government hotel in Monmouthshire in May and were moved to a caravan park in Denbighshire as the government looks to close its hotels acting as welcome centres for refugees.
Just 1,200 of the 3,200 Ukrainians who moved to Wales remain in government-procured accommodation, with many being billed weekly by local authorities on the basis that they’ve rejected two previous offers of accommodation elsewhere.
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The decision has left families feeling punished after being plunged into a difficult financial decision.
The families were moved to a caravan park in Denbishire (Elena Olkhovyk / Media Wales)They felt rushed out and moved to north Wales, while friends had been moved to Tenby and Wrexham
The families said they felt that, because they were unable to find new accommodation quickly, they had no say as to where they were moved and felt upset by how they’d been treated.
Welcome centres at holiday parks, hotels and the like were only ever meant to be a short term measure, and the idea that many of them would still be open well over a year after Ukrainians moved into them was not envisaged.
Elena Olkhovyk, who travelled to Wales last year after her home in Chernihiv came under threat from Russian forces, said she was told she had to move from the hotel in Monmouthshire to Denbighshire with her daughter Viktoriia.
She said: “We were moved here to Wales and were promised there would be no unrest. But people have lost their jobs, my daughter is stressed because she’s had to move schools.
"Many Ukrainians are currently living on this holiday park who are very dissatisfied. I also am now receiving bills for the caravan. When I asked Denbighshire Council why they were billing me they told me it is because I turned down two housing options.
“I am pregnant and because of all of these situations I am very nervous. It’s detrimental to my health and the health of my unborn child. We have many questions and little answers.”
Elena says she and her family have been left inside a small caravan with little space.
She added: “The families in the hotel were separated. Some were sent to Denbighshire like us, others to Tenby, and the rest were sent to Wrexham.
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"We are constantly under pressure. They offer housing options that do not suit five people. Every day I am looking for a house to rent for all of us but it’s so hard to find. Looking for work here is also very difficult.
“You can live in the caravan in the warm summer time but when we arrived it was cold, the heater could not cope and we were freezing at night. There are several types of caravans here and we are in bronze, which is the lowest type.
“There is mould in my house on the walls. There is mould on the curtains in the bedroom. A pipe leaks under the van and in the bedroom the floor is wet because of the leaking pipe. We’ve had no support.”
Elena’s friend Olena, who is currently living in the caravan next door, had her two cats taken from her by the council.
Olena explained: “I have two cats and when I moved to Denbighshire they told me that there would be no problem with me keeping the cats.
"But less than a month later the council told me that I should give the cats to a shelter, but I can’t afford it. It’s very expensive for me. I’m also having to pay £33 a week for the caravan.
"If I pay for the kennels and the bills for the caravan I cannot afford to eat or buy personal hygiene products. It’s a big problem that I think about all of the time. I’m really trying to look for a house every day but it’s so hard.
“They want us out of the caravans as soon as possible but we’re being offered accommodation in locations that aren’t good for us and where there are no jobs or shops. Meanwhile, I’m being sent invoices for the caravan. We were offered a house in Criccieth but there were no shops or jobs available for us near the house.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: "We are proud to be a Nation of Sanctuary and have welcomed over 7,000 people from Ukraine to Wales, including more than 3,200 through our super sponsor route.
"So far we have supported nearly 2,000 people to move on from our initial accommodation into longer term housing. We will continue to do everything we can to help move people into longer term accommodation – primarily with hosts or into private housing across Wales.
“In circumstances where forms of initial accommodation are closing as part of our long term settlement process, we work with local authorities and others to move on as many people as possible onto longer term accommodation before a site closes. Those people unable to move onto longer term accommodation are offered alterative initial accommodation at welcome centres located across Wales in line with our 'no-one left out' approach.
“Initial accommodation was never intended to be long term and we are committed to ensuring people from Ukraine can build a new life in Wales at the earliest opportunity. An important part of this is to provide them with the opportunity to live more independently. We do not comment on individual cases, however local authorities work with guests in initial accommodation to ensure that their health and wellbeing are supported.”
A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council said: “We do not comment on individual cases. The council follows Welsh Government guidelines in relation to housing Ukrainian refugees, and any charges are only applied to individuals following two reasonable offers of accommodation.”
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