Ukraine war: Refugees say they receive worrying messages

When Alina started checking Beth's Instagram, there was far more at stake than seeing what she was wearing, or which restaurants she'd visited.

For the student fleeing Odesa in Ukraine it presented vital information on whether she could trust a stranger.

After registering with websites linking Ukrainians with UK hosts, the 21-year-old noticed "a lot of people" looking to "take advantage of refugees".

More than 87,000 people from Ukraine have applied to the sponsorship scheme.

It requires the support of a host in the UK.

Along with plenty of presumably genuine messages from well-meaning families, Alina, a linguistics student, also began to receive "worrying" messages sent directly to her email and WhatsApp.

"I was faced with a lot of people who wanted to take advantage of me," explained Alina, who woke to the sound of bombing near her university halls on the first day of the Russian invasion.

"I got a couple of messages that made me feel not very comfortable and I got a couple of messages saying 'we can hire you as a babysitter or to walk the dogs'. It made me really suspicious.

"I'm a refugee, I need a safe place to stay - I'm not looking for money or for a job."

Hundreds of miles away in Cardiff, prospective host Beth was having similar concerns.

The 33-year-old hoped the spare room in her flat in the Welsh capital could offer safety to someone who needed it, but worried that refugees and hosts were expected to help match themselves under the UK government scheme.

"I didn't feel comfortable choosing someone to live with me through Facebook," she explained.

"It felt like a meat market. There were loads of other families advertising themselves. It was like open season for traffickers, I wanted to keep myself and whoever I was hosting safe.

"I heard there were a lot of people, girls, who were being offered room with basically sex as payment.

"It meant that when I was offering a room it felt like it was on me to prove I would provide a safe space."

When Beth, a biomedical scientist and Brownie leader, matched with Alina, she immediately sent her a link to her Instagram.

She said it was one of the easiest ways she could think of to help Alina trust her.

Beth's first message also included her Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check from Brownies - and explicit confirmation that she was offering the room "for free". In other words, nothing would be expected of Alina.

"It was a huge letter through WhatsApp," remembers Alina.

"The thing that I liked was that she described all her safety checks. Her letter made me feel really comfortable. She was a real person. I thought, 'I feel safe with this girl'."

Home Office data suggests more than 46,000 Ukrainian refugees have already travelled to the UK under family and sponsorship schemes.

There have been more than 45,000 applications for visas under the Ukraine Family Scheme and almost 90,000 applications for visas under the sponsorship scheme which Alina travelled on.

The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme allows Ukrainians and their family members to come to the UK if they can find a named host who will be providing accommodation for them.

Data from the Office for National Statistics has suggested only 2% of the UK's Ukrainian refugees are living in Wales, despite an offer from the Welsh government to act as a host itself - and supply up to 1,000 people with accommodation.

Figures suggest there are more than 1,100 Ukrainian refugees staying in Wales, but just 184 of them have come under Welsh government sponsorship.

A Welsh government spokesman said UK-wide delays processing visas had meant a "significant lag" in the recorded data.

After spending some time Googling each other, messages between Alina and Beth "started flying".

"I was very insistent on her mum being there for the first video call," said Beth.

"I knew that my mum would be absolutely terrified if things were the other way around - so I wanted to provide that reassurance.

"I was showing views out my window, this is Cardiff, this is where I live, this is somewhere safe."

Alina's mum also travelled to the UK, but her host family are in Yorkshire.

When their flight arrived at Heathrow Airport earlier this month, it was Beth who went to pick them up, complete with a selection of biscuits and crisps in case they were hungry.

"I was so nervous, but when we met Beth she was so nice, she was worrying about us and all my anxiety just went," said Alina, who still thinks more should be done to help refugees know potential hosts are "safe".

"The main thing is to choose your host carefully and to listen to your heart and your brain," she said.

"I need to build a new life, my previous life was stolen. I still have hopes I will be able to come back to Ukraine.

"But life is still going on and I have a lot of plans, I want to finish university and then I want to find work - and meet new people and just live."

Beth meanwhile - who used episodes of BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey to help Alina settle into Welsh life during her first night - has promised that she can stay rent-free for a year.

"If she wants to stay on after a year, I'm fully supportive but we'd have to have the rent conversation, I can't see me charging her too much though," she smiled.

"If she wants to move out before or after a year, I'm fully behind that too. She'll have my support no matter what."

A UK government spokesman said: "The Homes for Ukraine scheme has stringent safeguarding measures in place, and the Home Office conducts security and background checks on all sponsors before visas are issued. Councils also conduct checks and must make at least one in-person visit to a sponsor's property.

"We have published a list of recognised providers and new guidance for voluntary and community sector organisations interested in developing a matching service to help more people from Ukraine find safe and sustainable matches with sponsors in the UK."