For 14 days without contact and news about Silvana Pilipenko, from Paraíba, who has lived in Ukraine for 27 years, family members in Brazil are looking for information about her whereabouts, but without success so far.
The Itamaraty informed that it is aware of the case and that it contacted international humanitarian support organizations, through its office in Lviv, in order to locate the Brazilian woman.
The Brazilian’s niece, Beatriz Vicente, a law student, told the CNN that the last contact with the family from Ukraine happened on the last day 02. On the occasion, Silvana reported in a video call the tense atmosphere and showed the scarcity of food in the market and running water.
“The days are difficult. The internet was cut off. We run out of energy. Cell phones and computers ran out of power too. The heating in the house was also turned off. We are just waiting. And there is a very strong tension in the air. Everyone is going through this, everyone is waiting for a negotiation to put an end to this war. I ask you to continue praying,” she told relatives, according to reports.
According to Silvana’s family, she lived in Odessa, Ukraine’s third largest city and is located in the country’s largest commercial sea port – with her husband, Ukrainian Vasyl Pilipenko, captain of the Ukrainian merchant navy.
According to family members, Silvana went to Mariupol to take care of her mother-in-law
The couple left their home and headed towards Mariupol to take care of Silvana’s 86-year-old mother-in-law, but after the attacks on the city, which began almost two weeks ago, relatives seek news of the family, with no return.
“When the war started, she informed that she would not leave there, because her mother-in-law is already an elderly person, with mobility problems. So, she preferred to stay in her apartment. We were in contact every day. She informed them that she was in an area that was not being attacked, but she could hear the bombing. On the day, she also reported that she was experiencing a power outage, that the internet had been suspended, and that she was using mobile data,” said the niece.
With 400,000 inhabitants, Mariupol has become the target of attacks, which have taken place frequently since the first day of March.
Last Friday (11), the International Committee of the Red Cross stressed the need for a “concrete humanitarian agreement as a matter of urgency”. According to the head of city administration Oleksandr Starukh, more than 4,000 cars carrying refugees from the Ukrainian city arrived in Zaporizhzhia. Among the families, there were 772 children.
After that, 14 days have passed and the relatives are no longer able to contact Silvana. The couple’s son, who works aboard in Dubai, also couldn’t get information from friends and relatives in Ukraine because most of them have already left the region.
Beatriz says that the family made contact with the Brazilian authorities that work in the country, however, they were informed that they could not interfere at this time.
“We contacted the Brazilian embassy, but they cannot intervene. They said that they are not entering the country, they are not withdrawing Brazilians. The most we have is a group on Telegram, where they send train schedules for people who are heading to another country. But there is no active search, nobody in the country doing this kind of help”, he lamented.
wanted by CNN, Itamaraty informed that it is aware of the case and, through the support office in Lviv, has maintained regular contact with family members of the national team. International humanitarian support organizations present in the city have already been called to try to locate the citizen.
In a note, the Brazilian government’s international relations agency highlighted that “in compliance with the right to privacy and the provisions of the Access to Information Law and decree 7,724/2012, detailed information may only be passed on with the authorization of those involved. Thus, the MRE will not be able to provide specific data on individual cases of assistance to Brazilian citizens.”
Source: CNN Brasil
