“We are 15 kilometers away on foot, 15 more to go to the border,” says Brazilian Vitória Magalhães, who takes turns with her husband and a friend to carry her three-year-old son, Benjamin, and their luggage.
Married to Juninho Reis, a soccer player for the Ukrainian team Zorya Luhansk, she posted on social media this Saturday (26) videos of her attempt to escape the country at war. “We still have four hours to walk. We thought it was 30 km, but it’s more. There’s nowhere to stop, there’s no shelter, there’s no help. Let’s continue.”
When Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday (24), Juninho and other players posted a video that went viral, asking for help to get out of the city of Zaporizhzhya, where they lived.
The last news they published, on Saturday afternoon in Brazil (evening in Ukraine), was about a cafe where they stopped to rest, which would close at 10pm. “We don’t have anywhere to go yet, there are three hours to walk, the cold is intense, my son is crying from the cold, we don’t know what to do. I beg for help”, wrote Vitória.
In another video posted on social media, forward Lucas Rangel, from Vorskla Poltava, also asked for help this Saturday, on the border with Poland. “We stopped to eat something. It’s our first meal of the day and here it’s already 5:15 pm, after a long walk. We’re having a really hard time getting to the other side,” said Rangel. “This morning it was minus 11ºC and we have nowhere to shelter.”
Surprised by Russian attacks by land, sea and air in various regions of Ukraine and by the armed confrontation even in the streets of the capital, Kiev, tens of thousands of civilians hastily left their homes and moved towards the borders, seeking safety in other countries. —especially Poland and Romania, members of both the European Union and NATO, the Western military alliance.
According to the UN and the European Commission, between 100,000 and 120,000 people were displaced in Ukraine on the first day of the war alone, and at least 50,000 fled the country. Depending on how the conflict evolves, it is estimated that the exodus could reach 5 million.
With the airspace closed, the exit by land is the only possibility. But in the war scenario, finding transport is a challenge: vehicles are lacking, fuel, the curfew makes access to trains and buses difficult. There are reports that transport companies favor Ukrainians and refuse to take foreigners, and there are those who have to travel long stretches on foot.
Upon reaching the border, another journey begins. Videos show kilometer lines of cars and thousands of people gathered in front of gates. A table shared by refugee aid groups points to a wait of up to 75 hours at some checkpoints in Poland.
With that, the Brazilian embassy in Ukraine advised Brazilians who are close to the border to seek temporary shelter while the situation at the crossing points stabilizes.
“There are numerous reports of huge crowds, delays lasting days, aggressive behavior, lack of accommodation and basic necessities,” reads the statement, which also says that diplomats are “doing their best to contact the Ukrainian authorities”, but that the conflict makes the operation difficult.
Brazilian government says it will send planes
President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said on Saturday that the embassy had already boarded about 40 Brazilians by train to the city of Chernivtsi, close to the border with Romania. According to him, the government will provide means of transport, such as commercial or FAB planes, for the return to Brazil.
With Russian troops attacking Kiev, the city has imposed a curfew until 8 am on Monday. Brazilians who are in the capital are instructed by Itamaraty to stay sheltered in subway stations or underground bunkers and not to go out on the streets under any circumstances. They received notices like this one: “IMPORTANT! Kiev authorities warn of air strikes and urge people to take cover and listen for sirens.”
Since Friday, the embassy has been informing about the departure of some trains to cities close to the border, but makes it clear that the risk assessment is up to each one, since the security situation is unstable.
Staying in a hotel in the capital with their families, a group of Brazilian players from the Ukrainian first division left this Saturday (26) in a convoy of cars, identified with Brazilian flags, to board a train to Romania.
Part of the displacement was recorded and posted live by Maria Souza, wife of defender Marlon, a player for Shakhtar Donetsk. Crying, she described the situation as very frightening.
“Everything will be fine. Now we have three children and I’ll have to hang up. Pray a lot for us. See you in Brazil, God willing”, he said.
Apparently the group boarded, as midfielder Marcos Antônio, also from Shakhtar, published a photo inside a train alongside other players.
The Brazilian embassy in Romania announced that it would take a bus to the border to take Brazilians from Ukraine to Bucharest.
In Poland, the government announced reception points for refugees, with a structure so that refugees can sleep, eat and receive medical care – a reception that contrasts with what was given to previous migratory flows, formed by refugees from the Middle East and the Afghanistan. “Whoever is fleeing bombs, Russian weapons, can count on the support of the Polish government”, declared Mariusz Kamiński, minister of the interior.
According to The New York Times, Polish police were distributing fruit, donuts and sandwiches to the newly arrived Ukrainians.
Brazilians in Europe offer lifts and accommodation to refugees
On the Polish side of the border, hundreds of volunteers bring donations and offer lifts to refugees. Among them, the Brazilian businesswoman Clara Magalhães, 31, who drove from Germany, where she lives, to the city of Medyka.
She created Frente BrazUcra, a group on Telegram to help Brazilians and other Latin Americans who want to leave Ukraine with information, offers for free accommodation and other assistance.
The pace of posts is frantic. They are messages like these: “Border with Romania, anyone? There are Brazilians on the train with children, they are on their way”; “We need help. My in-laws are in Lviv and speak neither English nor Ukrainian”; “My girlfriend’s mother is freezing to death. I need help please”; “Five people are going to get off the train and they don’t know how they are going to get to the border. They have a baby.”
A shared document lists trains leaving Kiev, border checkpoints and recent attack points, as well as safe routes and those to avoid. The group created an online crowdfunding to help with spending.
Psychoanalyst Mary de Jesus, who lives in Poland, is responsible for connecting refugees who need help with those who have something to offer in the country. She says one of the difficulties is that information about the border changes all the time.
“Sometimes they only let people in on foot if they have someone waiting for them on the other side to give them a ride, for example. That’s why we have five or six volunteers driving to each of the entry points”, he says.
The Itamaraty responded to the sheet that “provides all reasonable assistance” to citizens in Ukraine and that around 250 Brazilians have registered so far on the embassy’s registration form.
According to the note, the embassies in Kiev and Bucharest coordinate the operation to evacuate Brazilians via Romania and have direct contact with the head of the central train station in Kiev, with local authorities in Chernivtsi and Romanian immigration authorities. The ministry did not say whether it assists in the exit through Poland.
