Send small boats seized from people-smuggling gangs to Ukraine, MPs demand

Ministers are under pressure from MPs to allow small boats seized from people-smuggling gangs to be given to Ukraine, where they are desperately needed in its war against Russia.

The Home Office has so far rebuffed pleas to release the stockpile of boats used by cross-Channel migrants to be given as gifts or sold to Ukraine, a decision which campaigners say “makes no sense”.

This week, The Telegraph visited a pound near Dover where more than 60 small boats and at least 130 engines were visible, some of which appeared brand new.

The non-profit organisation Mission Ukraine UK has asked the Home Office to allow it to put the boats to good use by taking them to the battle front, where they are desperately needed to ferry personnel and supplies across the Dnipro river.

Dmytro Tomkin, the co-founder of the voluntary organisation, said he was “puzzled” by the Government’s refusal to help its ally by handing over the boats and engines.

He said: “We have been buying second-hand boats in the UK and taking them to Ukraine, where they are repaired and put to use.

“It struck us that there are migrant boats coming to the UK all the time across the Channel and we could use them, but the Home Office says no.

“They have said they are unseaworthy but we have people who repair the boats and engines, so that isn’t an issue. They have also said they are sometimes sold at auction. The whole thing makes no sense to us.”

Mr Tomkin, who is from Ukraine but lives in the UK, where he works in finance, said there is an “endless” need for the boats in Ukraine, where they are used to move personnel and supplies as well as evacuating the wounded.

The average lifespan of a boat in the war zone is four to eight weeks, and the Ukrainian armed forces say they need 900 of them in service at a time, a target they are currently short of.

Mission Ukraine previously reached an agreement with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, to send vehicles that do not meet the ultra-low emission zone standards in the capital to Ukraine. Pick-ups and other 4x4 vehicles are particularly useful to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Among the MPs who have written to the Home Office demanding to know why the boats cannot be sent to Ukraine are Bob Seely of the Ukraine All Party Parliamentary Group, Sir Jacob Rees Mogg, Penny Mordaunt, Greg Clark and Rebecca Evans.

Sammy Wilson, the DUP MP for East Antrim, who also wrote to the Home Office about the boats, said he could not personally assess whether the boats were seaworthy.

But he added: “I think there is probably a huge difference in using these kinds of boats to ferry 40 or 50 people across 22 miles of open sea and their use to bring a few individuals across a river.”

A Government spokesman said: “We are fully committed to supporting Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s illegal war, while also providing a safe and secure haven for those fleeing the conflict.

“While we are determined to provide Ukraine with the resources they need, the Ukrainian government has not requested these boats and we cannot donate unsafe and dangerous small boats which will put more lives at risk.”