16 more Ukrainian refugees will make their home in North East Lincolnshire
68 refugees are already in the area
Sixteen more Ukrainian refugees are expected soon to arrive and be housed in North East Lincolnshire.
The news comes after Putin celebrated the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories after referendums held there, widely labelled as shams, to join Russia. On Friday, the Russian President held a signing ceremony to formally annex the Russian-held Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
It’s been seven months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 and eight years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea. North East Lincolnshire is continuing to play its part in hosting Ukrainian refugees, or “guests”, as council leader Cllr Phillip Jackson described them in his statement to full council on Thursday.
He revealed that a further 16 Ukrainian refugees are to settle in the local authority. Two are to arrive imminently, while 14 have no estimated time of arrival.
There are 48 sponsored properties in North East Lincolnshire and 68 refugees have already arrived in 36 properties. “We continue to welcome new arrivals and support existing refugees and their hosts with no issues to report,” said Cllr Jackson. Three refugees in two homes have left the area.
The blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag were flying atop Grimsby Town Hall too, besides the Union Jack. “The Ukrainian flag continues to fly over the Town Hall and will do for the foreseeable future.”
Ukrainian forces recently scored a major victory in the war retaking over 3,000 sq miles in reclaiming the entire Kharkiv region. On September 21, Putin ordered a partial mobilisation of Russia’s military reservists.
In a speech on Friday at the signing ceremony for the territorial annexation which is not internationally recognised, the Russian President accused the West of wanting to make Russia its “colony”. The UK has so far provided £2.3bn in military aid to Ukraine and is hosting a training programme for 10,000 new and existing Ukrainian personnel.