IT has been two years since the start of the war in Ukraine – and Warrington residents have taken in hundreds of Ukrainians.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and since then more than 200,000 refugees have arrived in the UK through two schemes.

These are the family scheme, which allows Ukrainians living in the UK to bring family members over from their home country, and the sponsorship scheme, where individuals can offer to look after Ukrainians fleeing the conflict.

Data from the Home Office shows 273 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK having been sponsored by residents of Warrington since the spring of 2022, from a total of 313 visas issued.

A year ago, 242 had arrived after being sponsored by people in the area.

The sponsorship scheme – also known as Homes for Ukraine – has seen 143,400 people fleeing the conflict arrive in the UK.

Local figures are not available for the family scheme, but 56,800 people have arrived through it since it was launched in March 2022.

The Government closed applications to the scheme last week, with charities criticising the move.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The lack of options for Ukrainian and other families separated by war and persecution is already a huge problem.”

Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said Ukrainians will still be able to come to the UK for ‘sanctuary’ through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Mr Pursglove further praised the ‘enormous’ amount of work from communities across the UK to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the conflict.

The Government has announced an 18-month extension available at the start of 2025 for those in the UK through the two refugee schemes.

Since February 2022, more than 9,000 Ukrainian households have received homelessness duties from councils, having suffered or been at risk of homelessness.

Despite this, 6,000 are no longer receiving them, meaning the issues may have been resolved.

This includes 23 households in Warrington. Across all households, 19 have since had their duties ended.

A spokesman for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “For arrivals under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, we provide a £5,900-per-person tariff to councils to enable them to provide support to individuals and families, including in the minority of cases where someone is left without accommodation.

“We want to prevent homelessness before it occurs, which is why we are giving councils £1billion over three years for them to help people find a new home and move out of temporary accommodation.”

They added that £109million had been allocated to prevent Ukrainians from becoming homeless.