Family of 90-year-old ukrainian refugee begs uk government to fast-track her cat’s visa

Gabriella Swerling Social and Religious Affairs Editor 10 March 2022 6:12pm GMT Ukraine war - featured articles The cat belonging to a Holocaust survivor and Ukrainian refugee counts as

“family” and should have its pet visa fast-tracked so its owner can resettle in the UK, her family have begged the Government. Earlier this week, The Telegraph revealed that Kateryna

Razumenko, 90, was stuck in Poland waiting to be processed by the Home Office. She was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1931. She has survived the “Holodomor” - the man-made famine that struck

Ukraine in the 1930s as a result of Stalin’s forced collectivisation policy - as well as the Nazi invasion, the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the age of 90, she

left her home country for the first time in her life and became a refugee. Ms Razumenko, who has dementia, and her daughter, Larysa, 62, fled Kharkiv after a week of shelling from Russian

forces. They travelled by train carrying just one handbag each and their 15-year-old cat, Solomon. As a result of this newspaper highlighting her plight, and her family’s direct pleas for

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to “have a heart”, their case was escalated and they were granted visas within 24 hours. However, despite Ms Razumenko and her daughter - who are now living

in a Jewish community centre, just outside Warsaw - having a visa to come to the UK, their cat cannot leave Poland until May, in accordance with Department for Environment, Food and Rural

Affairs (Defra) guidelines. Zac Newman, 35, from north London, is currently in the Polish town of Otwock, just outside Warsaw, trying to bring his mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law home.

He told The Telegraph: “My grandmother-in-law and my mother-in-law have been through so much. “The only thing they took with them when they fled their home was their cat. Their cat is a

family member to them and it is devastating for me to think they would be separated from Solomon after all they’ve been through. “The fact that Solomon has the required documents and pet

passports is just so unfair and it’s just wrong to prevent them from staying together. I plead to Defra to offer special dispensation to this Holocaust survivor - who is now a refugee - so

she can stay with her cat.” In accordance with current government guidelines on bringing pets into the UK from abroad, Solomon has to wait three months from having his blood test - which he

had in Poland this week. A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation, which manages the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, said: “Our staff are working in line with DEFRA and Pet Travel

Scheme regulations in order to assist as quickly as possible.” A Defra spokesperson said: “We recognise the difficult and distressing situation that Ukrainian nationals currently face, and

the UK Government is working at pace to support them. “We have strong biosecurity measures in place to protect the public and other animals from diseases which can be brought to the UK by

animals from overseas. However, the government is looking at options to provide support to Ukrainian nationals who are entering the UK with their pets.”