More than 2.15 million Ukrainians have fled their country after the Russian invasion, according to United Nations estimates. People have sought to settle in neighbouring nations; however, some Latin American authorities have made it known that they are willing to receive them.

The head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said that Ukrainian citizens arrive in host countries “in a state of shock and very impacted by the violence after the long days it has taken them to reach a safe place”.

The Latin American countries that have expressed their intention to receive Ukrainian refugees are:

1. Guatemala

The president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, informed at the beginning of the month that his country is open to receiving refugees from Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of that country.

The president specified that they hope to start with the arrival of 10 children in the coming days.

“Ukrainian families who wish to seek protection in another country to escape the conflict will be assured of refuge in Guatemala,” Giammattei said during a televised message to the nation, in which he referred to the diplomatic efforts made by the Foreign Ministry to resolve the conflict through dialogue.

The president pointed out that “the measures have been turned around” by the Guatemalan Institute of Migration (IGM) to provide assistance, and that it has already accepted “the request to receive the first 10 Ukrainian children” this week.

AFP has detailed that there are 10 minors, who will arrive in the company of mothers and, in some cases, grandmothers. Most seek to reunite with Ukrainian relatives residing in Guatemala.

2. Uruguay

The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, assured this Wednesday, March 9, that he is predisposed for the South American country to receive Ukrainian refugees, although he clarified that he has not yet spoken about this possibility with any organization.

“Uruguay has historically had open arms in this regard”, the president told the press during a meeting in the city of Carmelo, in the southwest of the territory, where he participated in an act in which the cornerstone was laid to start work on a new international airport.

However, the president clarified that, for the moment, the idea of receiving people that “the war has expelled from their homeland” is personal, since he did not dialogue with the United Nations Refugee Agency (Acnur) or with any other organism.

“Any of us would like them to open their arms to us, and I don’t think Uruguay is oblivious. Obviously, the conditions are very important. But there is a predisposition, at least, of those who speak, to receive Ukrainian refugees, ”he concluded.

3. Argentina

On March 3, the Argentine government said it is “considering the possibility” of offering the country as a refuge for Ukrainians fleeing war.

“Argentina has always been an open land to embrace those who have to take refuge for political reasons; in this case, for reasons of a war, so we are also working on that issue,” said the presidential spokeswoman, Gabriela Cerruti, at her weekly press conference.

The official stressed that Argentina’s position has been “clear and conclusive” in “rejecting the military invasion” by Russia.

However, the Argentine portal PERFIL revealed that on March 8, the first family of Ukrainians who escaped from the war landed at the Ezeiza Airport. It was about a woman with a 9-year-old son and her grandmother.

It turned out that the husband had to stay in Ukraine to comply with regulations that prohibit men between 18 and 60 from leaving the country.

The people would have arrived in the southern country through contact with the Ukrainian communities in Argentina, and not by way of requesting refuge.

The media also detailed that a relative of an employee of the Ukrainian embassy in Argentina arrived in the country.

4. Chile

Chile welcomed the first couple of refugees. These are elderly people who had been in the country since December 2021 and, when the war broke out, decided to request refuge in the country.

The La Tercera portal highlights that it is a 70-year-old Ukrainian couple who was visiting the country (their names or initials cannot be revealed by law).

The people were visiting a son who has permanent residence in the South American country.

European countries receiving Ukrainian citizens

More than half of the 2.15 million Ukrainian refugees are in neighbouring Poland, whose borders have reached almost 1.3 million citizens of this country, while 203,000 fled to Hungary, 153,000 to Slovakia, about 100,000 to Russia, 85,000 to Romania and 82,000 to Moldova, according to the UN agency.

Tragically, if the war does not stop, many more families will be cruelly divided,” said the head of UNHCR, an organization that has already started the conflict estimated that up to 4 million Ukrainians could flee to other countries, to which would be added a high number of internally displaced persons.