Humanitarian flight carrying five Ukrainian refugees arrives in Argentina

Five Ukrainian refugees travelling on humanitarian visas arrived in Buenos Aires on Saturday night, local media reports.

Two women, one of whom travelled with her two children, and a man made up the humanitarian mission, which arrived at Ezeiza International Airport on a plane belonging to the Solidaire NGO, which is run by Argentine pilot and film director Enrique Piñeyro.

The NGO has already transferred several displaced persons between Ukraine and Spain.

The aircraft arrived with only nine passengers in total, six crew on board and more than 200 empty seats, which had been occupied by people who had left on the flight from Warsaw but remained in Spain, reported the Infobae news portal.

Bogdan, a 37-year-old man who was unable to enlist for medical reasons and left Ukraine a few days ago, arrived alone in the South American country, which he chose despite knowing virtually nothing about it. He had a friend waiting for him, local media reported.

Fellow traveller Alina, who was joined by her two children, was reunited with a second uncle, who is originally from the city of Kharkov and has been living in Argentina for several years.

The final passenger, 72-year-old Irina was welcomed by her daughter and two granddaughters, whom she had not seen since 2019. 

The individuals, whose surnames were not disclosed, are the first to arrive in Argentina on a humanitarian flight.

Other Ukrainians have already arrived, though they travelled by their own means, fleeing the war after the Russian invasion and assisted by the Ukrainian community in Argentina.

Between 350,000 and 400,000 Ukrainians live in Argentina as a result of various waves of migration, according to government figures.

– TIMES/AFP