Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, political support and international donations began to wane. But the humanitarian crisis caused by continued Russian attacks remains serious. With the aim of renewing the involvement of the Brazilian population and politicians, the Ukrainian community is holding a day of mobilization for Brazil.
Acts of support for the Ukrainian population will be held this Sunday (22) in São Paulo, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro, according to the Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation (RCUB). See times and locations at the end of the report. The war turns four years old on Tuesday (24) with no prospects for a peace agreement.
At the beginning of the large-scale invasion, in 2022, Brazilian volunteer Clara Magalhães, from the BrazUcra Front, crossed the border between Poland and Ukraine with her car full of food, clothes and hygiene items several times a week. As soon as it unloaded near the front, it ran to make the return trip and resupply in warehouses full of donations at the border. She slept in the car to make more trips.
“Today there are fewer donations, so it’s much more complicated to constantly fill the car or van”, says the volunteer, who started her work in the first month of the war and started living permanently in Ukraine.
“We call it ‘donor fatigue’. People end up getting used to it and losing the bond or desire to help. Many think they have already donated in the past and no longer need to. As there is a lot going on in the world, war ends up losing focus and relevance, becoming something banal in everyday life”, he says. According to her, the priority today is that resources are donated in the form of money and not items to reduce the cost of international transport.
But the population continues to have its needs and the State is unable to meet them. The focus today is no longer just food and hygiene items for populations living close to the battlefront, which is more than 1,100 kilometers long.
As Russia has intensified attacks on the country’s electrical grid since the end of last year, the items most needed are portable generators, which power home heating networks. Blackouts last more than 18 hours and temperatures reach around -15 degrees.
This is the current focus of the Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation, which has been campaigning for the purchase of small power plants. They cost around R$8,000 per unit. Eight Ecoflow generators have already been donated to hospitals and refugee centers in Bilozerska, Sumy, Chudniv, Kherson and Ternopil. Donations are made through social networks of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia.
“For four years, Ukraine has faced continuous aggression that has been gradually silenced by the media. Faced with the humanitarian crisis worsened by attacks on infrastructure, the Ukrainian diaspora in Brazil intensifies its efforts”, says Júlia Regina Bordun Bertoldi, vice-president of RCUB and Coordinator of the Humanitas Brazil-Ukraine Committee.
But, in addition to donations, some of the descendants and families of Ukrainians want to generate political mobilization. Ukraine was the victim of a large-scale unprovoked invasion, which has already claimed the lives of at least 55,000 fighters and an uncalculated number of civilians that also exceeds tens of thousands.
The idea is to draw attention to Moscow’s attempts to normalize the invasion and increase its influence in Brazil. Earlier this month, Russia held a high-level meeting with the Brazilian government. It was interpreted by analysts as a way for Moscow to increase its influence over the Brazilian government to maintain its presence in Latin America, after the Russians were expelled from Venezuela by the United States.
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Ukrainians carry out acts against the Russian invasion in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba
Brazilian volunteers from the Ukrainian Army pose for a photo in a combat area in Ukraine. (Photo: Adilson de Andrade Ganzert/Personal archive)Brazilians continue to volunteer to fight in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has been attracting Brazilian volunteers to fight on the frontline since 2022. Many continue to fight on both sides of the frontline. Itamaraty estimates that at least 23 Brazilians have died since the start of the conflict.
The Ukrainian embassy does not encourage or recruit Brazilians to participate in the conflict. Combatants travel directly to the region of conflict and enlist in the belligerent armies.
Adilson de Andrade Ganzert, 45, from Paraná, is one of these volunteers. He first traveled in August 2022 and took part in the counteroffensive that liberated Ukrainian territories in Kharkiv and Donetsk that year. He was injured by drones and artillery, but is preparing a new trip to Ukraine soon.
“I have four children, I’m married, but I kept thinking and seeing the suffering of people in Ukraine. People fleeing with their children and being bombed and killed. I told my wife and my mother: ‘I’m going to Ukraine to help'”, said Ganzert.
“They responded: ‘go there and help, but come back, right?’. So, that was my reason for going. It was more for the humanitarian issue, out of love for others,” he said. He has already made two trips.
Other fighters also travel motivated by pay and military experience. But Ganzert warns: “If you go, don’t go for the money, because that’s why it’s not worth it.”
Demonstrations in support of Ukraine “4 Years of War” will begin at 11:30 am on Sunday (22) in São Paulo, at Avenida Paulista, 1313, in front of the Fiesp building. They continue in Curitiba, at 3:30 pm, at Praça da Ukraine. There will also be an act in Rio de Janeiro, but on the 28th, at 4pm, in front of the Copacabana Palace, on Copacabana beach.
There will also be a mass for peace and victims at 10am, in São Paulo, at the Parish of Nossa Senhora Imaculada Conceição, at Rua das Valerianas, 169, in Vila Zelina.
