UK Defense Ministry Refuses To House Ukrainian Refugees In Empty Military Homes - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom is keeping its military houses empty despite urgent calls of local officials to use the buildings to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Saturday.

The head of the Council of Wiltshire, a county in southern England, Richard Clewer has been urging the infrastructure department of the ministry for months to provide its empty houses located in his county to Ukrainian refugees. However, the department has not responded to the calls, even though the buildings have been unoccupied for years.

"I am on the edge of a housing crisis now. I have 360 Ukrainian families that are likely to need to leave host families because they have agreed to a six-month deal," Clewer said in an interview with Daily Mail, adding that the situation was a "disgrace."

According to the newspaper, there are at least 1,350 unoccupied military houses in Wiltshire that were initially built for families of the military.

In late August, the Guardian reported that more than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees in the UK could become homeless next year after their initial six-month housing placements end.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The crisis has provoked massive flows of refugees from Ukraine to European countries in search of asylum.