Two Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) aircraft — a KC-390 Millennium and a VC-99B Legacy — arrived today in Brasilia with 68 passengers who fled Ukraine. The Brazilian government’s Operation Repatriation ensured the safety of Brazilians and foreigners who were in that country and promoted humanitarian cooperation by transporting 11.6 tons of goods donated by Brazil. The effort counted on the joint participation of the ministries of Justice and Public Security; Defense; Foreign Affairs; Infrastructure; Agriculture, Livestock and Supply; and Health.
The passengers who boarded the aircraft in Warsaw, capital of Poland, in the early evening of March 9, landed in the capital of Brazil the following day at 12:25 p.m., local time. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied by an inter-ministerial committee that included Minister of Defense Walter Braga Netto, welcomed them at the Brasília Air Base. In all, there were 43 Brazilians (12 minors), 19 Ukrainians (three minors), five Argentines (one minor), one Colombian, and 10 pets.
Operation Repatriation
The repatriation mission began March 7, with a KC-390 Millennium aircraft taking off from Brasília for Warsaw. On the way there and back, the aircraft made technical stops in Recife (Brazil), Sal Island (Cape Verde), and Lisbon (Portugal).
That same flight transported 11.6 tons of donations, meeting the request of the Ukrainian government. The humanitarian support included 50 water purifiers, some 9 tons of dehydrated food with high nutritional content, and half a ton of essential supplies and medical items, donations of the Brazilian Ministry of Health.
Armed Forces tradition
Military doctrine defines the action as “operations for the recovery of citizens.” The preparation of military personnel and their use in actions of this nature, as well as in other humanitarian aid actions, is a tradition in the history of the Brazilian Armed Forces, which have been present in Lebanon (2006 and 2020); Wuhan, China (2020); and Haiti (2021).