Twelve shipments of supplies through the White Helmets Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance, for a total of almost 110 tons and a value of more than US$300,000, including contributions from the Ukrainian community in Argentina, were part of the humanitarian aid deployed by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an operation that also included evacuations of Argentine citizens and other nationalities who were trying to flee the conflict zone.
On February 24, 2022, the day Russian military operations in Ukraine began, as a result of the bombings, the Argentine ambassador to that country, Elena Mikusinski, left the sixth floor of 12 Ivana Fedorova Street, where the national diplomatic headquarters are located.
It was thus that the ambassador transferred, by instruction of Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, the administrative area to the official residence for security reasons and that night she slept in the basement of the residence, giving shelter to five Argentine couples (and three babies) who had arrived for the birth of their children through the subrogation of the womb.
In an exclusive interview with Télam Radio, the diplomat remarked that a year ago, when she had to leave the Embassy building with the start of the bombings, she felt “very supported by the activity carried out by the Foreign Ministry”.
New ambassador of Ukraine in Argentina ????
Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero today received Yurii Klymenko, who presented him with copies of credentials that certify him as the new diplomatic representative in our country. pic.twitter.com/a8GlptR9AP
– Argentine Foreign Ministry ?? (@CancilleriaARG) February 24, 2023
“In previous days, the tension in Kiev was felt and more or less we all expected something. We all expected something, although we did not know exactly what,” he recalled, remarking that “especially from the 24th at dawn, the foreign minister was always present daily, accompanying us”.
When taking a tour of the starting point marked by the bombing, he recalled that they were “obviously surprised by the explosions at dawn on the 24th.”
“We have a chat between the accredited ambassadors in Ukraine. We were in contact, several embassies of the European Union had already moved from kyiv, but the vast majority of the ambassadors remained” in the Ukrainian capital,” he described.
He argued that, in these scenarios, the type of training provided by the Argentine foreign service takes on a real dimension, which gives them the “ease of adapting to any circumstance and service and service vocation predominate.”
“The chancellor, the truth, who accompanied me, instructed me; obviously a series of evacuations had to be carried out and that meant that we had to stay a few more days in kyiv,” continued the story referring to February 24 of last year and the following days.
He specified that once they achieved this first instance, they ran into the difficulty of getting drivers to implement the evacuation, since those who had been prepared for that task were no longer there.
The diplomat said that they complied “with the evacuations giving precedence to Argentines with a temporary stay or who obviously had some medical treatment and had to return.”
Mikusinski specified that “the route that was made with the evacuations was via Poland. There were also some cases via Romania and once that task was completed, because the rest of the Argentines many decided, for example, binational marriages, a Ukrainian with Argentina or an Argentine with a Ukrainian many still remain in Ukraine and we there decided by instruction of the foreign minister to evacuate by the fastest way, which was through Moldova and then Romania”.
On February 26, 2022, soccer players Claudio Spinelli and Francisco Di Franco were playing in the Ukrainian league and were able to flee thanks to diplomatic efforts.
Franco crossed over to Romania while Spinelli reached the border with Poland at a time when only women and children were allowed through that pass.
The intervention of Ambassador Mikusinski, who spoke on the phone in Ukrainian with the people at the border post, allowed him to enter.
On March 2, Argentina sent a White Helmets mission to the conflict zone with 6 members with experience in humanitarian aid together with two Polish-speaking diplomats and a mobile consulate was installed on the Polish-Ukrainian border for Argentines and national members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), who were trying to leave Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the first days of March, the government of Alberto Fernández, through Provision 417/2022 of the National Directorate of Migrations, enabled the granting – free of charge – of humanitarian visas in accordance with article 23 subparagraph m) of the Law 25,871 of Migrations, to those Ukrainian foreign nationals and their direct relatives, regardless of their nationality, who had left Ukraine and appeared before an Argentine Representation.
That same month, the first contingent of five Argentine men and women arrived at Ezeiza who, after leaving Ukraine for Poland together with their families, and after being assisted by state civil volunteers, decided to return to the country: One of the citizens who Arrived, a Ukrainian national (married to an Argentine), obtained the humanitarian visa from the Argentine Foreign Ministry through the Consular Section of the Embassy in Brasilia.
In mid-March, Argentina sent the first humanitarian aid flight for Ukrainian refugees to Poland, through an Aerolíneas Argentinas plane that carried 2.5 tons of materials donated by the White Helmets together with the Ukrainian community in the country.
According to data provided by the Foreign Ministry, during this year of war, Argentina made twelve shipments of supplies through the Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance – White Helmets, for a total of almost 110 tons and a value of more than US$ 300,000, including contributions from the Ukrainian community in our country .
The National Directorate of Migrations (DNM) reported that, from March to November of last year, 159 Ukrainian nationals entered the national territory without a visa for a transitory stay, under the Visa Exemption Agreement with that country, and after a while in the country, they have decided to settle, while from November 23 to date, 33 humanitarian visas have been granted.
“The reflection is really fear, fear because it is the first time in world history that a large-scale war has been waged on the territory of a country with an extensive network of nuclear power plants.”Elena Mikunsky
The White Helmets Commission (Comca) has begun to contact Ukrainian citizens who entered Argentina as a result of the armed conflict, in order to gather useful information about their experience in our country and to be able to offer them guidance and assistance in their integration process. .
In the interview with Télam Radio, Ambassador Mikusinski said that a reflection on the war between that country and Russia can be synthesized in “the fear” that it has generated globally.
“The reflection is really fear, fear because it is the first time in world history that a large-scale war is being waged on the territory of a country with an extensive network of nuclear power plants,” he said.
He pointed out that based on the information they handle “in Kiev the situation is difficult due to the power cuts that persist and that prevent a regular working day” and added that “on the other hand there is always the fear that a missile will be intercepted and that will produce some victims, obviously civilians”.
He also pointed out that according to the statistics he manages “eighteen thousand” are the civilian victims at this time in Ukraine.
There is “an important reflection” ahead, it is “a bit of the fear that invades at the global level at the moment, obviously,” reflected Mikusinski.
