Editor,

I recently watched live coverage of Ukraine’s President Zelensky addressing the House of Commons and Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK addressing the Home Affairs Select Committee. While welcoming the measures taken so far in support of Ukraine, as a UK citizen I am deeply ashamed of the UK government’s failure to respond more urgently and humanely to the refugee crisis, especially when compared to the response of a number of other nations.

As with the disastrous handling of the Afghan refugee crisis, I am left wondering whether this is due to a lack of concern and/or incompetence.

The suffering of Ukrainian children, women and men intensifies daily and time is of the essence.

The UK Government and Home Office need to act far more urgently and do much more to assist Ukrainians fleeing the war including waiving or, at the very least, drastically reducing visa requirements and allowing applications to be submitted post-arrival in the UK as other countries have done.

I would urge your readers to contact their MPs of all parties asking them to keep up the pressure on the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to translate words into deeds and treat this defining issue of our times with far greater urgency and humanity.

Duncan Toms, Machynlleth