Ukraine-Russia: Homes for Ukraine scheme exploited by men offering shelter in return for sex, Scots charity warns

A Glasgow refugee charity has said it has received direct reports from young Ukrainian women fleeing the war claiming that men registered with Homes for Ukraine have been contacting them and offering free accommodation via the scheme in return for sex.

This comes as social media users in Ukraine reported women were circulating information advising vulnerable females on how to avoid rape amid fears of exploitation of refugees leaving the country, as well as claims that Russian soldiers are raping women.

There have also been 24,400 visas granted under the Ukraine family scheme out of 32,800 applications received, according to provisional data on the department’s website.

However, the Home Office confirmed as of Thursday, 4,700 visas had been officially issued under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme

Refugees and volunteers are seen at Medyka border crossing as people pass through from war-torn Ukraine on March 31, 2022 at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland.

Positive Action in Housing, which is helping 593 Ukrainian families and young people find shelter in the UK and runs Britain’s longest-established refugee hosting programme, said it was arranging safe passage for three young people aged under 21 who it persuaded not to use social media to find a sponsor.

Director Robina Qureshi warned the way the UK Government’s scheme was being run would be “shut down by any regulator” if carried out by an NGO rather than the government.

She said in one case, a day before the official scheme opened earlier this month, a man contacted a young Ukrainian woman who was seeking information about Homes for Ukraine on social media. He then asked her to send photos of herself and tell him about herself. He sent her a link to “Homes for Ukraine”. She politely declined to send photos of herself.

He then stated: “Phase one is open on Friday. There are some people who are interested in coming to my house. So I need to make a decision. I am a doctor and live alone in a big house.”

He then sent her photos of himself sitting in first class on a plane, a picture of his sports car, and the rooms in a luxury house, including a luxury jacuzzi.

She replied: “I'll probably use the official application, as I don't trust anyone in such a situation coming to a foreign country … I'm not looking for dating. And I know what some people use it for, I'm also not into some kind of escort.”

He replied: “I am doing this through the official route. I have registered and I can nominate one person.”

The man then sends a screen shot of his official confirmation email from the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine Scheme. He went on to offer her an “arrangement” – a euphemism for sex.

He says: “So, free accommodation, food, expenses, plus a monthly allowance. The other option for you is to register with charities in which case you will [be] allocated randomly.”

The young woman then said she was with her mother, and he declined to help.

Ms Qureshi said: "We are right now observing safeguarding breaches and unsafe situations on an industrial scale as a result of the Homes for Refugees Scheme.

"This scheme has lost all credibility as a trusted route for women, children and young people. The government sidelined NGOs and established hosting networks and this is the mess created – war refugees being directed down the road of human trafficking

“Now so called ‘sponsors’ registered with Homes for Ukraine have gone onto social media to offer shelter for sex to war refugees. Who is the genuine sponsor and who is the trafficker? Nobody knows for sure.

“We are worried that Ukrainian refugees, especially children and young people as young as 13, confuse the official registered email from Homes for Ukrainians sent to those who sign up to the Government’s register, and think the ‘sponsor’ is legitimate and cleared. We were in visceral shock when we saw what was unfolding.

"If an NGO did this, it would be shut down by every regulator. But no, it’s the Government. We expect to see and hear much worse in the coming weeks and months."

Reports have increased of Russian soldiers raping women in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament, said there were reports of women, some elderly, being gang raped. Last week Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said an attack on a woman in a suburb of Kyiv – who claimed she was raped in front of her young child – was being investigated by the authorities.

Kyiv independent journalist Anastasiia Lapatina wrote on Twitter on Friday: “How to protect yourself from rape” is an actual post circulating among Ukrainian girls on Instagram right now. This is our reality.”

A UK Government spokesman said: “Exploitation through “sex for rent” or human trafficking is illegal and has no place in our society – those with evidence of law breaking should go to the police. We have designed our Homes for Ukraine scheme specifically to have safeguards in place – including robust security and background checks on all sponsors, both by the Home Office and local authorities.

“Registering your expression of interest in becoming a sponsor does not mean an individual has passed security checks, and all sponsors must go through these checks. For the safety of the applicant, no visa will be issued until these Home Office checks have been completed.”

The concerns have grown as an international disaster relief charity helping Ukrainians in eastern Europe said it was prepared to scale up its operations if the influx of refugees continues.

ShelterBox has spent weeks helping in Ukraine, Poland and Moldova since the Russian invasion sent millions of people fleeing for safety.

The charity said it expects the number of people reaching the Ukrainian borders to increase as the war continues, despite reports many have already started returning home.

Steph Christensen, a ShelterBox response team member in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, said: “I think all of the humanitarian organisations here recognise that if the situation were to change drastically or go on for a significantly long amount of time that they would start to need more and more support from the humanitarian community to keep that up.

“We know that things can change rapidly, and we’re preparing, if needed, to be able to scale-up significantly.”

Mrs Christensen said ShelterBox provided thousands of mattresses to the many of the roughly 10 per cent of refugees in so-called collective centres – such as schools and leisure centres, where their details and needs are logged – as well as working to get aid including shelter kits across the border.

But she said the situation was “complex and constantly changing”.

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