The government ordered the evacuation of the embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, due to the increase in Russian hostilities. The decision was communicated by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero this afternoon at Casa Rosada.

Ambassador Elena Mikusinski, her daughter and other employees of the embassy initially tried to head towards the Romanian border, but eventually had to change their original plans and are currently trying to leave the country through Moldova, to the southwest.

“We have determined the evacuation of the embassy. Diplomatic staff is located a few kilometers from the border with Moldova. He was on his way to Romania, but they had to change”, said the Foreign Minister in brief contact with the accredited press in the Patio de las Palmeras. “An 8-hour window of opportunity was opened without a curfew and in that time they took advantage of the opportunity to generate the safe-conduct so that the diplomatic personnel can leave the city. This was done during our early hours, it is the last part of the diplomatic personnel that performed functions there,” he explained.

“We are going to be following the consular tasks from Poland and from Romania. Elena (Mukusinski), our ambassador, is with her daughter and with Consul Yusuf Saber. They are on their way to finishing leaving Ukraine,” she expanded.

Regarding the Argentine citizens who continue in Ukraine, Cafiero described that “we have the registry of all of them, we are in permanent communication with them, we continue to work with all the Argentines who are there with the will to leave. We are taking a mobile consulate to the border with Poland and also to Romania, which are the two possible exits that our compatriots have been using.”

“Our country followed the events and how they changed. Argentina has a history of values that express its foreign policy as the defense of human rights. adhering to the principles of international law and the principles of the charter of the United Nations, those values have always been expressed in our diplomatic history. When the tension began, Argentina asked to de-escalate it, this happened a week ago. When there was greater tension, we called for dialogue, to return to the pre-existing agreements. Later, when the Russian army began military actions, we rejected the use of force as a mechanism to resolve conflicts. And later, when this was prolonged over time, the invasion was condemned”, he detailed the actions adopted by the Argentine Foreign Ministry during the conflict. He also stressed that for our country “the path is always that of peace.”

The foreign minister stressed that there are possibilities of receiving Ukrainian refugees because “we have been working with the UNHCR, which is in charge of the issue at the United Nations. We have participated in this program for many years. All the instances of humanitarian crises that arise are being worked on there, it is a multilateral organization. Under this program, we receive refugees from different parts of the world. And in this scenario, it is reactivated. Likewise, it is not compulsory, Argentina offers itself and we have to see if people who are in Ukraine, in Europe, want to come here”.

Before entering La Rosada where he will participate virtually this afternoon with President Alberto Fernández in the IV Summit between the Caribbean Community and the Central American Integration System, Cafiero had strongly criticized the head of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, for his pronouncements on the military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.

He did it in statements to La Red radio. “It bothers me that (Rodríguez Larreta) plays politics with these things, we have to be more serious. When the leaders begin to explain what the country should do, the country is already doing it”, he assured.

The head of the Buenos Aires Government, in addition to demonstrating several times against the Russian invasion on social networks, received this Wednesday the Ukrainian Chargé d’Affaires in Argentina, Sergiy Nebrat, and promised him humanitarian assistance in a meeting at the headquarters on Uspallata Street, in Parque Patricios. He also offered to collect funds for that country through a solidarity festival and a collection.

Earlier, on Monday, the city’s secretary for international relations, Fernando Straface, had gone to the Ukrainian embassy to take Nebrat a letter addressed to the mayor of Kyiv, former boxer Vitali Klitschko.