BBC News 10 March 2022 - by Adam Durbin and Doug Faulkner
Priti Patel is expected to announce changes to the UK's refugee scheme for Ukrainians, which could include allowing those on temporary visas to bring family members over.
The home secretary is expected to update Parliament later, with changes aimed at streamlining the process.
The government has resisted calls to eliminate all visa rules for refugees, citing security concerns.
Vadym Prystaiko acknowledged the need for security checks, but said most refugees did not pose a threat.
He said paperwork issues could be dealt with later, as many "fleeing under bombardment" did not have access to the necessary documents.
Labour has called for the government to lift "normal visa conditions" for Ukrainian refugees so the UK can take its "fair share".
The European Union has waived visas for all Ukrainian refugees for up to three years - with Poland alone taking in nearly 1.3 million people so far.
More than two million people have fled since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the Home Office has come under pressure to speed up visa processing after it confirmed just 760 had been issued so far.
A spokesperson said the UK had taken "urgent action" to process visas while "carrying out vital security checks".
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Ms Patel must balance the risk when deciding how to reduce the bureaucracy of security checks for refugees.
He told BBC Breakfast security checks still needed to be done within visa policy "in a way that still gives her the assurance that she needs that at a time of acute competition in Europe between the West and Russia, we're not making the mistake of dropping our guard altogether".
The Ministry of Defence has offered troops to assist the Home Office with the visa process, he said, although the countries where the application centres are will have to approve British troops being sent to help.
The government has also said it will set out details of a sponsorship route, in which individuals or organisations can sponsor refugees to come to the UK, this week.
Speaking on BBC One's Question Time, Mr Prystaiko pointed out that most of those trying to get into the UK were women with children, as Ukrainian men were staying behind to fight.
"I hope they're not posing any terrorist threat to the UK," he said, adding: "I hope and beg the procedures will be dropped, every bureaucratic red tape should be cancelled."
Mr Prystaiko also said the Ukrainian embassy in London could help the government to complete checks once people were in the country.
Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband called for normal visa conditions to be lifted but added that "biometric and security checks" should remain in place.
He said the Home Office needed to "get its act together" and ensure changes could be made with "real speed".
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi revealed plans were under way in his department to prepare for up to 100,000 Ukrainian children who might need places in schools in the UK.
Home secretaries must know how to deal with flak. It goes with the job.
But when accusations of foot-dragging, complacency, heartlessness and lies come from your own backbenches, you know you have got a serious problem.
One Tory MP has called for Priti Patel to resign over her handling of the Ukrainian refugee emergency.
The Home Office is in crisis mode, trying to convince an increasingly sceptical nation that the department has got a grip of the situation.
"We are doing our best," one insider tells me, before adding: "But we haven't got everything right."
The nightly images of desperate families fleeing a war but turned away by UK government officials confirm the latter point.
This is becoming deeply damaging for the Home Office and the prime minister.
Ms Patel is under intense pressure, with suggestions that Downing Street is losing confidence.
Read more from Mark here.
The refugee crisis has escalated rapidly in recent days as Russia ramps up bombardments of civilian areas in cities.
On Wednesday, an air strike hit a maternity and children's hospital in the southern city of Mariupol.
The attack has drawn worldwide condemnation, as senior Western officials warn Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch a chemical weapons attack in Ukraine
More than two million people have now fled Ukraine, leading to what the United Nations has described as the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has continued to resist calls to drop visa requirements for Ukrainians fleeing the violence - insisting security checks were needed to prevent Russian agents being able to infiltrate the UK.
A government spokesperson said the UK stood "shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Ukraine" and said it had taken urgent action to process visas at speed.
"We have protected appointments at all of our visa application centres to ensure there is sufficient capacity and deployed extra staff to help people through the process as quickly as possible."
The government's response to the refugee crisis has been branded a "disgrace" by Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke, while fellow Conservative politician Sir Roger Gale called on Ms Patel to resign over the situation.
Earlier, the Ukrainian ambassador criticised the bureaucracy of the UK system, which he said even led to his wife to facing delays getting a visa when he got the role.
On Wednesday afternoon, the mayor's office in Calais had told the BBC that 87 Ukrainian refugees were taken by bus to Lille to a visa centre to be processed.
The coaches went to an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the city, according to a separate source, and the refugees were taken there by invitation only.
The government said the new temporary visa application centre for people applying to come to stay with Ukrainian family in the UK would open on Thursday in Lille, rather than in Calais, "in light of the risk from criminals actively operating in the area" around the port.
In a call with with Mr Zelensky on Wednesday, Mr Johnson committed to tightening economic sanctions on Russia further and reaffirmed the UK's "unwavering support for the people of Ukraine", Downing Street said.
The prime minister also thanked the Ukrainian president for his "deeply moving" and historic address to Parliament on Tuesday, adding Mr Zelensky had "earned the admiration and love of the British people", a spokesperson said.
Writing on Twitter after the call, Mr Zelensky thanked the prime minister for the UK's leadership in "countering the crime Russia is committing on [Ukrainian] land".
