Don't limit Ukraine refugee numbers - Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon: "Our focus should be not on setting arbitrary limits on what we can do."

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted there should be no limit on the number of refugees the UK takes in from Ukraine.

The first minister said she would not put an "arbitrary number" on how many could seek safety in Scotland.

The Scottish government is working with councils on the practicalities of how to house people fleeing the conflict.

Ms Sturgeon said the UK had been very strong in setting sanctions on Russia, but was falling "woefully short" on opening its doors to refugees.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK could take in 200,000 or more Ukrainians - but has faced criticism that other countries across Europe are doing more to relax entry rules.

The UK government, and not the Scottish government, has control over immigration and visa matters.

'Take right decision now'

About seven million people are thought to have been displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the United Nations reports that more than 500,000 people have fled the country.

Ms Sturgeon was speaking at an NHS equipment storage facility in Motherwell, where medical supplies and equipment are being readied for transport to Ukraine.

More than half a million items including oxygen masks and hypodermic needles are being donated by NHS Scotland as part of a £4m package of humanitarian assistance.

The first minister said this was "one practical way in which we can help" people affected by the conflict - and called for more to be done to directly support refugees.

The UK has widened its visa waiver scheme to allow entry to the parents, grandparents, adult children and siblings of all Ukrainians settled in the UK.

Ms Sturgeon highlighted that the Republic of Ireland has scrapped all visa requirements, while the EU has agreed to let in refugees for up to three years without first having to seek asylum.

The first minister said Mr Johnson should "take the right decision now", rather than being "dragged kicking and screaming into the right position".

She said: "Our humanitarian response right now should be to say to people if you're fleeing Ukraine and coming to the UK we will allow you entry, we will deal with the paperwork later.

"That's what many other countries are doing and it would be shameful if the UK did not follow suit."

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Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Ukraine following Russia's invasion

However, Ms Sturgeon would not be drawn on how many refugees could be taken in in Scotland, saying that "arbitrary numbers" should not be put on this.

She said the government was working with councils to address the "practical challenges" in this, having previously worked to house refugees from conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan.

She added: "Our focus should not be on setting arbitrary limits on what we can do. but pushing the boundaries of what we can do. Because all countries are going to have to do this if we are going to provide the support Ukraine is going to need now and unfortunately into the future."

At prime minister's questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said the EU had long had differing visa systems from the UK and had its own arrangements with Ukraine.

He said: "What we do have is a plan to be as generous as we possibly can to the people of Ukraine and the numbers that will come just under our family reunion scheme could be in the hundreds of thousands, to say nothing of the special new path that we're opening up for those coming, the humanitarian path that is also uncapped.

"What we won't do is simply abandon all checks. We don't think that, that is sensible, particularly in view of the security concerns, the reasonable security concerns about people coming from that theatre of war."

'Crass parallels'

Ms Sturgeon also said she understood the desire of some Scots to go to Ukraine to assist in the defence of Kyiv and other cities, but said it could be "counter-productive" for those without military experience to travel to the region.

The SNP leader also said it would be crass and inappropriate to compare the situation in Ukraine to Scottish independence.

Opposition parties had criticised SNP president Mike Russell for a blog on the party's website which referred to the 2014 referendum alongside Ukraine's right to oppose "rule from Moscow" - days after MSP Michelle Thomson apologised for an "insensitive" tweet on the topic.

Ms Sturgeon insisted that she did not think Mr Russell was trying to make a direct comparison between Scottish independence and the war in Ukraine, adding that "those parallels are not there".

She said: "Nobody should be drawing crass parallels that are inappropriate - but equally opposition politicians shouldn't be trying to create controversy and division out of things that don't merit that.

"Let's all rise to the occasion and the moral obligation of helping Ukraine, and put some of the pettier divisions between to us to one side as we do that."

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