Second cruise ship for Ukrainian refugees arrives in Glasgow

A second cruise ship that will house displaced Ukrainian refugees has arrived in Glasgow.

The MS Ambition will join the MS Victoria, which has been docked in Edinburgh since July, as temporary accommodation for families arriving in Scotland from Ukraine.

The ship, docked on the River Clyde, can hold 1,750 people in 714 cabins.

More than 15,000 people have travelled from Ukraine to Scotland since Russia's invasion in February.

The second cruise ship has been chartered for six months and will remain at King George V docks.

People on board will have access to restaurants, child play facilities, shops, cleaning and communal spaces.

The vessel will be docked at all hours and residents will be able to arrive and leave whenever they want.

They will also have access to healthcare and benefits support services.

Neil Gray, Scotland's minister with special responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, said the ship would provide accommodation that was "safe and sustainable" while people were waiting to be matched to long-term housing.

He added: "The arrival of the MS Ambition is a key part of that provision, which means we are providing sanctuary to more displaced people per head of population than any other part of the UK.

"We do not want people spending more time in temporary accommodation, such as the cruise ships, for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

"We continue to take significant action to increase our temporary accommodation capacity as well as boosting our matching system to maximise the number of people who can be placed with volunteer hosts."

The Scottish government committed to welcome 3,000 refugees when the super-sponsor scheme launched in March.

As of 1 September, there had been 35,931 applications under the scheme and 29,992 visas issued.