Ukrainians able to obtain a UK visa will now be able to travel across the English Channel for free, after Eurostar announced free travel to all Ukrainian passport holders fleeing the conflict with Russia.
Anyone fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will be able to collect free tickets from any Eurostar station to London St. Pancras International, the transport operator has announced.
‘If you are a Ukrainian national travelling to the UK with a valid visa, we can offer a free Eurostar ticket to London,’ said Eurostar on Twitter.
Ukrainians must have a valid visa to enter the UK, in line with government policy on immigration, along with their Ukrainian passport.
Eurostar is majority owned by SNCF, the national railway of France. The UK government sold its share of Eurostar in 2015.
People wait to board an evacuation train from Kyiv to Lviv at Kyiv central train station following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Eurostar has announced Ukrainians able to obtain a UK visa will now be able to travel on board any of its trains heading to London St. Pancras free of charge
With the announcement, Eurostar has become one of many high-speed rail operators offering free service on its trains.
Dutch railway company NS announced it would offer free travel to Ukrainians on Monday.
Deutsche Bahn, the Germany’s railway national rand largest train operator in Europe, also announced it would offer free travel to those fleeing the conflict with Russia, alongside French-Belgian highspeed operator Thalys.
Several other national train operators have also waved payment, allowing Ukrainians to travel free of charge in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France, Belgium, and Denmark.
Low-fare Hungarian carrier Wizz Air is also offering Ukrainian refugees 100,000 free seats on flights in continental Europe departing from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia or Romania in March.
People fleeing Ukraine arrive by train at Western Railway Station in Budapest, Hungary
Ukrainians arrive to board trains at the train station in Przemysl, Poland after Russian attacks
Fighting in Ukraine has so far pushed around a half million people across the border, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.
But Ukraine held a population of roughly 43 million people when the war with Russia began, with more people likely to be displaced as the conflict worsens.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel ruled out visa-free entry for Ukrainians fleeing the conflict with Russia on Monday.
Senior conservative party members George Osborne and Rory Stewart urged the Home Secretary to guarantee all Ukrainian refugees the right to live in the UK, but Ms Patel told MPs that security fears prevented her from loosening the rules further, citing reports that Russian troops were infiltrating Ukraine and merging with Ukrainian forces.
Her talk harkened back to the 2018 Salisbury attack, in which former Russian military officer and double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned along with his daughter.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson however announced on Tuesday that the UK could take in 200,000 or more Ukrainian refugees as the government extends its help to more people fleeing the war.
Only five days after the military attack, the Polish immigration authorities announced that 280,000 Ukrainian refugees had entered the country.
Pope Francis expressed gratitude to the Polish people on Wednesday for their generosity in welcoming Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with Russia.
‘You were the first to support Ukraine by opening your borders, your hearts and the doors of your homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war,’ Pope Francis said in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on March 2.
Hungary has also seen refugees arriving. Al Jazera reported that more than 85,000 people have crossed into the country since the crisis began on February 24.
On the border, refugees are met with hot tea, local sandwiches and additional help.
Germany has vowed to take in all Ukrainian refugees who flee from a Russian invasion of their country, a move which mirrors former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refusal to set an upper limit for asylum seekers entering the country during the 2015 European Migrant Crisis.
A woman and her daughter embrace their father at Lviv train station after he arrived from Kharkiv, a city shelled since the start of the war which has displaced roughly half a million
People wait at a train station to board trains in an attempt to flee the fighting in Kyiv
People arrive to the West Train Station in Budapest from Zahony after crossing the border
Hundreds of people gather at the Kyiv train station to try to catch a ride out of town with news of the Russian convoys approaching the city of Kyiv
Ukrainian authorities have reported dozens of deaths in a shell attack by the Russian army on the city of Kharkov, the country’s second most populous city
People wait to board an evacuation train from Kyiv to Lviv at Kyiv central train station following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
