Brazil has avoided direct criticism of Russia since the beginning of the war. Although in March, Brazil, now a provisional member of the UN Security Council, supported a resolution condemning Russian aggression and demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. And Brazil also abstained when the UN Security Council voted to condemn the annexation of Ukrainian territories, although it supported the resolution in the General Assembly. At the same time, polls show that most Brazilians have a negative perception of the Russian Federation and are on the side of Ukraine.

On July 14, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi met with Brazilian Ambassador to Ukraine Norton de Andrade Mello Rapesta during his working visit to Lviv. During the meeting, Mr. Ambassador expressed his commitment to the Ukrainian government, and stressed that the Brazilian government shares the position of Ukraine on the grain issue and is ready to further cooperate in this area, providing our state with the necessary assistance. He stressed that Ukraine and Brazil have very close ties for more than 130 years, and his country is interested in further strengthening this cooperation and contribute to the further economic development of Ukraine.

The government of the state of Parana, with the support of the Araucaria Foundation and the Brazilian General Directorate of Science, Technology and Higher Education (SETI), has announced the reception and integration of Ukrainian scientists forced to leave the country because of a full-scale military invasion by Russia. The state of Parana actively accepts refugees from Ukraine because of its predominantly Ukrainian immigrant population, the widespread Ukrainian language and the preservation of national traditions. The cooperation of Ukrainian and Brazilian scientists in partnership with the state government will be a significant step for the recovery and strengthening of the Ukrainian economy in the future. The main goal of the program is to allow scientists from Ukrainian universities to continue their research at universities in the state of Parana for up to two years. It is expected that 50 postdoctoral scientists who work or have worked at Ukrainian universities to develop research projects will be included in the program.

With the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Moscow horde, the cohesion of Ukrainians around the world has increased manifold. The Ukrainian diaspora in South America, particularly in Brazil, is no less active today. It is known that one of the largest Ukrainian communities in the world resides there. Today they, together with social activists in this country, help Ukrainians in every way they can. The Ukrainian diaspora and caring Brazilians collected humanitarian aid and several cargo planes sent it to Ukraine. Basically all activists in Brazil collect funds and send them to our state through embassies and other charitable organizations. In addition, people host internally displaced people from eastern regions of Ukraine: they pay for their air tickets to Latin America, help with housing and food, and teach languages.

“For Ukraine, For Life” – under this name in the city of Curitiba in Brazil on March 5, 2022, a campaign for humanitarian aid to victims of the war in Ukraine was launched. The initiators of the campaign are the Episcopal Conference of Brazil, in particular its southern region, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Saint John the Baptist in Curitiba, the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Prudentopolis and the regional organization Caritas.

At the end of October, Brasil elected a new president. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Twitter congratulated Lula da Silva on winning the election in Brasil. In his greeting he noted that he hopes “for active cooperation and strengthening of strategic partnership to ensure democracy, peace, security and prosperity in Ukraine, Brasil and all over the world”.

Brasil also demonstrates a growing level of partnership relations, because this state is an important trade partner of the region. According to the results of 2021 the volume of export of goods from Dnipropetrovsk region increased 23 times and amounted to $91.61 million (50.5% of the volume of Ukraine to Brazil). Among the goods that are in greatest demand among Brazilian consumers are ferrous metals and ferrous metal products, ores, slag and optical and photographic instruments and apparatuses.

Export operations were carried out by 9 companies from Dnipropetrovsk region. The main exporting companies are enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex and the processing industry.TOP-5 exporting companies (ranking by the volume of export products):

Imports of goods from Brasil to Dnipropetrovsk region amounted to $34.69 million (9.1% of Ukraine’s imports from Brazil) and increased by 30% compared to 2020. Dnipropetrovsk region bought more agricultural products, means of land transport, machines and mechanisms, and other.

Import operations were carried out by 78 importer enterprises.

TOP-5 importers (ranking by the volume of imported products):