A REFUGEE who escaped war in Ukraine has faced homelessness after being thrown out by her sponsor in Rosyth.

Svitlana Khyzhniak, 46, left her life in Kyiv behind at the start of May and settled in the town using the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Now, she has been left sleeping on a friend's sofa, after she says she was asked to pay £70 a week to her host before she had found work.

"Every day she cries because she came here and she thought she would be safe here," the friend, who wished to remain anonymous and who acted as Svitlana's interpreter, told the Press.

"She was crying, I was crying, she doesn't know who can help.

"She can't rest because she can't sleep, she is stressed because she can't sleep, she cries every day."

Svitlana said that the language barrier often resulted in confusion between her and her host, saying that she had agreed to pay the money without an interpreter there without really understanding what she had been asked.

She said that she spent little time in the house, often spending her days at the church with a family she knew, and only using her sponsor's home for showering and sleeping.

The refugee, who now works at Mowi in Rosyth, was offered a stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in North Queensferry – by Fife Council – and had been told that she could be placed anywhere in Fife, despite securing a job and relying solely on public transport.

Her friend said: "She asked, 'How will I go to work if I am so far from the factory?'

"She can't lose the job, she can't live if she doesn't work.

"It really is not easy for her, she was happy when she met me and she doesn't want to move and start again.

"Every day she cries because she came here and she thought she would be safe here."

She added that at one time, Svitlana had told her that she wanted to go back to her home country.

The friend further claimed that hosts had not received the £350 payout which had been promised to them by the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which Svitlana thinks was the reason behind her being asked to pay.

Two separate parties, who also asked for anonymity, contacted the Press last week to relay the issues they had been witnessing.

One called the situation "scandalous", saying that payments had been withheld by Fife Council, while the other claimed that a council representative "didn't know" that they should not tell refugees to pay their hosts.

Gavin Smith, housing access and homelessness service manager with Fife Council said: “We’re working with UK and Scottish Government to support arrivals from different humanitarian programmes with a current focus on the situation in Ukraine.

"During the last few weeks, we have visited hundreds of properties including those that have arrived under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

"Those arriving under that scheme have received an interim payment in line with the guidance at the point officers were aware of their arrival.

"However, we know that many others have travelled to Fife, and elsewhere, via the Family Visa Scheme and unofficial matching schemes that have been set up via social media.

"We’re not involved in these schemes so, unfortunately, we don’t have any information about these people or their circumstances.

"We can only work from the official information received from the Scottish and UK governments.

"We are working to keep the public updated with information online and have set up staff teams urgently to respond to the demand at a local level and some unprecedented challenges.

"We’ll be in touch with all Homes for Ukraine hosts over the next few days to gather the necessary information to make a payment to them. We hope to make these payments next week and where appropriate, these will be backdated."