USP professors Kostiantyn Iusenko, 39, and Nataliia Goloshchapova, 36, anxiously awaited their vacation trip to Ukraine after two years of the pandemic, a period in which they rarely left home in the west of São Paulo. The family members, the food and the places that marked their lives before moving to Brazil nine years ago were present in their memory. The couple’s reunion with the past would bring the feeling of warmth they needed so much.
That was at the beginning of this year. Everything was going well in the midst of the Ukrainian winter and the return to Brazil was already scheduled for the end of January. But both had Covid-19 and the return was postponed to February 28. Four days before the mathematics teachers were to leave for São Paulo, however, Russian troops invaded the country and started the war. It was too late to cross borders and return home.
If the setback caused by the coronavirus kept Yusenko and Goloshchapova imprisoned for another month in their native Ukraine, the war against the Russians was even more deterrent. Under martial law in the eastern European country, every Ukrainian man between the ages of 18 and 60 must defend his homeland. The teacher decided to stay in the country with her husband.
According to Iusenko, the couple’s naturalization process began in 2021 and is stuck in the midst of Brazilian government procedures, which would even require a personal interview, which is impossible at the moment. If they had a Brazilian passport, the two could return to the country. “I would ask for a little common sense in relation to bureaucratic issues,” she says.
USP professors say that, despite the warnings made by the United States, few people thought that, in fact, there would be a greater offensive by the Russians. “What we believed is that something localized could happen, in the Donbass, in the eastern part”, says the professor.
When they saw a video of Vladimir Putin disregarding Ukrainian history and the very existence of the country as something independent of Russia, days before the invasion, USP professors began to fear the worst. “We started to think that it would be something very complicated”, he says.
The tension grew even more with the confirmation that, in fact, it was a war. “We stayed the first nine days in Kiev. There were a lot of explosions, not exactly in our neighborhood, but relatively close. Several times, I saw missiles heading towards the center of the city. One day, the air defense caught a missile relatively close to the our condominium”, says Iusenko.
The professor engaged in the territorial defense of the buildings, with a group made up of volunteers. “We organized the shelter, two checkpoints, and we even made lots of Molotov cocktails,” he says.
Goloshchapova saw panic in the streets, desperate people trying to buy food and a sense of insecurity amidst the sounds of war. “We slept in a hallway that we thought was safe because it had big walls. The situation was getting worse,” she says.
It was then that, like 80% of the residents of the neighborhood where they were, they decided to leave Kiev. A teacher offered a ride west to Ternopil, where Goloshchapova’s sister lives. It was a journey through alternate paths to avoid battles, but both arrived well at their destination.
For now, the situation in Ternopil is less frightening than in the Ukrainian capital. But not entirely free from fear and apprehension. In the early hours of Monday, for example, the USP professor was awakened at least five times by alarms that they were in danger of suffering an air attack.
“The big fears now are that the Russians are going to use a nuclear weapon. I think the possibility of that happening is not zero. Or causing an explosion in one of the nuclear plants, exterminating the civilian population of the captured cities, which in fact is already happening. in Mariupol. They are bombing shelters and killing hundreds of people from wounds, hunger and thirst,” says Goloshchapova.
The couple sees a very complex scenario that led to war, and cites the breakup of the Soviet Union, the current conflict between Russia and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Ukraine’s historic struggle for independence from Russia, signs of fascism in modern Russia. They also point out what they believe to be the weakness of Western countries in recent conflicts among others. “It seems that Putin really has an obsessive idea of collecting ‘Russian lands’ and making history. Ukraine is a key territory in this puzzle,” says Goloshchapova.
“Until the war started, a large part of the people [ucranianas] he liked Russia and wanted to be part of this Russian economic and cultural ensemble. They couldn’t believe that this hell was going to happen, that the Russians would actually kill us. In some ways, worse than fascists”, says the teacher. “They [russos] they have almost no supporters here in Ukraine”, he adds.
Despite the still uncertain future, both are already dreaming of what they intend to do on their return to Brazil. The trips to Campos do Jordão, the walks in the parks and the daily life of the past will gain the company of friends.
“The first thing will be to rest for a day or two. And when I’m close to my friends, I want to hug them. We’re getting a lot of support from our colleagues, teachers, students,” says Iusenko, who also plans to help Ukrainian refugees from best form. Even now, they already have the help of Brazilian colleagues to help those who have taken shelter in Ternopil.
Naturalization
The USP Rectory says that it has been in contact with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Federal Police and members of the Brazilian Embassy in Ukraine, who were very receptive to the University’s demand. “However, what prevents the professor’s return to Brazil is the Martial Law of Ukraine, which prohibits men aged between 18 and 60, whether naturalized or not, from leaving the country,” he said in a statement.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security stated that it does not comment on ongoing naturalization cases and does not disclose information on the migratory status of immigrants, which consist of personal data, of a restricted nature, in accordance with Law 13,445, of 2017.
According to the ministry, in relation to the entry of immigrants into the national territory, the authorization does not depend on naturalization, but on the possession of a valid visa, residence permit in the country or that the interested party is a beneficiary of a treaty or diplomatic communication that entails visa waiver, in accordance with art. 164 of Decree 9,199, of 2017.
