Judge Rinder compares Ukraine refugee crisis to Second World War

TV star is currently in Poland reporting on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia

Judge Robert Rinder has made comparisons between the Second World War and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Stationed in the Polish town of Prezmyl to cover the conflict for ITV, Rinder also criticised the UK government for how they were processing refugees fleeing the war.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he said: “People should know what happened in the past or we’re doomed to repeat it. I can tell GMB viewers and you that it is repeating itself.”

The barrister then described the situation for refugees crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland and compared it to scenes from the Second World War.

“The trains arrive infrequently,” he said. “When they do it is women, it is children, it is babies in mothers’ arms. They arrive in wagons cheek to jowl, a sea of humanity with just very often one suitcase or the clothes on their back.”

Rinder, whose Jewish grandparents fled to the UK during the Second World War, then praised the British public for opening up their homes to refugees.

“The British people are speaking up,” said Rinder. “All they want is (for the Government) to deliver – and I am going to repeat this because it bears repetition – to deliver on the promises that they have made.”

Rinder had previously called the British government’s response to the refugee crisis a “national embarrassment” and said that the bureaucracy of trying to get people to safety was a “nightmare”.

The TV star has also been posting regular updates on his social media, documenting people crossing the border and the many men taking their families to safety then going back to fight.