was founded by immigrants from Ukraine in the late 1800s they’ve also welcomed Ukrainians displaced by war A group of kids in Prudentópolis shout “glory to Ukraine” during a traditional baking activity at Ukrainian Community Week one of the many activities celebrating the city’s deep Ukrainian roots A group of kids shouted “glory to Ukraine” during a traditional baking activity that was part of the Ukrainian Community Week in Prudentópolis Traditional Eastern European foods feature prominently during the annual weeklong festival that wrapped up this past weekend The town’s founders came from villages in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire — what is now western Ukraine — in the 1890s. At the time, the new Brazilian Republic was actively soliciting immigrants to open up farmland and colonize the countryside The founders of Prudentópolis came to escape poverty “We can’t deny our roots,” said Oksana Jadvizak who works with the city’s tourism department the week of the Ukrainian community is here to preserve and maintain our connection with Ukraine In Prudentópolis, Ukrainian flags and other blue and yellow decorations can be found all over, while the Millennium Museum is devoted to the region’s immigrant roots the town has welcomed refugees displaced by the war in Ukraine Alciro Penteado is the owner of a local family restaurant that serves pierogies and other Ukrainian dishes alongside traditional Brazilian beans “Everyone here is either descended from Ukrainians or married to someone who’s descended from Ukrainians,” he said That also means that everyone here has paid close attention to the war in Ukraine the father prays for Ukraine to find peace and for an end to the conflict.” Penteado attends service at São Josafat the main Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in town though roughly 50 more Ukrainian-style churches dot the surrounding countryside Services are in both Portuguese and Ukrainian Many of the townspeople say that their ties to their homeland have become even stronger since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Vitalii Arshulik is a Ukranian missionary who came to Prudentópolis a few years before the war to start the town’s First Baptist Church Arshulik helped to receive Ukrainian refugees arriving in Brazil And when I was coming home from helping the Ukranians and my wife was getting in and going out to help someone else,” he said The 27 refugees who came to Prudentópolis were women and children fleeing violence most of them have now returned to Europe to be closer to their family members who couldn’t leave the country Only one woman decided to stay — 41-year-old Yuliia Antiukhova which has been at the center of the conflict with Russia She said it was hard to say goodbye to the others who came with her from Ukraine “I am so happy that God led my way to Prudentópolis,” she said And God surrounded me with so many wonderful people that I don’t feel alone.” delivered to your inbox every weekday morning Thanks to our sponsor PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402 Over 100 churches stand in the southern Brazilian town of Prudentopolis many built in ornate Byzantine style by Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in such large numbers from the late 19th century that it became known as Little Ukraine In recent days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine the town's churches have been packed with locals wracked by feelings of despair and powerlessness praying for friends and families back in Ukraine first visited Ukraine in 2008 on a scholarship during the Maidan uprising that toppled President Viktor Yanukovich One of her professors died in those clashes and Jadvizak said she was horrified by the recent escalation with Russia that has left Ukraine a smoldering pile of rubble "It's so impactful to see the tanks of war and planes flying over and hearing my friends saying they are going to battle," she said in front of a Byzantine church and a yellow-and-blue flag draped around her shoulders With the sound of a choir rising behind her Jadvizak had come out to show solidarity with those in Ukraine "We're going to pray so that everything ends well," said Jadvizak who is of fourth generation Ukrainian descent and counts Portuguese as her second language Some in the town drew parallels between their own families' exit from Ukraine and that of the millions of refugees fleeing in the wake of Russia's invasion a shopkeeper whose parents came to Brazil after living through the "terror" of World War Two said she feared Ukrainian culture would be erased many from the western Galicia region that includes the city of Lviv a historian from the Federal University of Parana who has studied the town's roots He said Ukrainians were fleeing extreme poverty just a few decades after Tsarist Russia outlawed serfdom was desperate for workers to develop its farmland and actively recruited Europeans through publicity campaigns The first roughly 1,500 Ukrainian families that arrived worked in agriculture and sawmills industries that remain major employers to this day named after former Brazilian President Prudente de Morais have retained surprisingly close ties with Ukraine Over three-quarters of the town's 52,000 people speak some Ukrainian "The descendants who live in Prudentopolis have a fundamental connection with Ukraine," he said "They are very close to their relatives who stayed there and the vast majority dream of returning or visiting the land of their origins." He is part of a decades-old group in the town known as the "Cossack Brotherhood." The club seeks to maintain ties with Ukrainian culture through dances and historical presentations Almost all members are Catholic and dress up in traditional clothes keeping their hair and beards in the classic Cossack style "We learn to love Ukraine from childhood .. and we carry that love for our entire lives," Michalovski said "Every bit of sad news about the war is a stab in my chest We will only have peace again when the fire in Ukraine stops said she was offering whatever support she could "Today I sent a message to my friends saying that if they needed where 70% of the population is of Ukrainian descent a mechanic and fellow member of the "Cossack Brotherhood," echoed the views of many in Prudentopolis he was also putting his faith in the divine each drop of Ukrainian blood spilled is a piece of our heart that breaks," he said but our way of helping from here right now is with prayer." (Photo Editing: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson; Text Editing: Richard Chang; Additional reporting Gabriel Stargardter; Layout Kezia Levitas) Kachuski displays photos of herself and her husband Jose Petel Kachuski and her husband Jose Petel take care of their animals Krevei reads a new edition of the Pracia newspaper a typical Ukrainian instrument at the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute Ukrainian descendants and members of the "Cossack brotherhood" perform during a rehearsal holds a priests robe at the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute The entrance to a cemetery used only for Ukrainian descendants Religious song books are seen inside the Sao Miguel Arcanjo church Laryssa Moskvichova and her children fled the war in Ukraine 3 months ago and resettled in Prudentópolis She's been baking and selling Ukrainian specialties in her new home — like the oreshki on the plate It's a walnut-shaped cookie filled with doce de leite The markers belong to her 6-year-old daughter Laryssa Moskvichova just filled her biggest order yet It took four days to make around 360 oreshki a walnut-shaped cookie filled with doce de leite a caramelized condensed milk associated with Latin America but also used in Ukraine The recipe she brought with her from Ukraine is a favorite of customers in her new home of Prudentópolis a small town in southern Brazil where she fled with her three daughters — Anastasiia Ivanova ( Like other Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 Laryssa's husband — the father of her two youngest daughters — had to stay behind when his family fled.) Orders have been rolling in at a pace Laryssa never expected. Today she's working on buckwheat bread and prepping for another round of oreshki tomorrow. In the days to come, there will be apple pies, honey cakes, vareniki dumplings and more oreshki She's getting a lot of orders for Ukrainian baked goods in her new home in Brazil Laryssa earned a living by selling toys and parrots and parakeets from her home As she kneads the dough for her last loaf of bread and places it into a pan lined with parchment paper the afternoon sun streaming through the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony of her fourth-floor apartment she calls her new friend Andreia Burko Bley who grew up in this town and has sons the same age as her two youngest daughters They talk about Andreia taking the girls to school the next day and the menu she made to help Laryssa's baking business filled with laughter and the kind of chatter that usually only comes with years of friendship Andreia is one of many natives of the Brazilian town who learned Ukrainian before she learned Portuguese Her great-grandparents were among the first families some 116 years ago to come from Ukraine and settle Prudentópolis named for a past president of Brazil and now known as "Little Ukraine," with the hopes of making a living by farming the available land The Ukrainian-Brazilian Folk Dance Group Vesselka was founded in 1958 and performs throughout the year — and even travels abroad Above: a rehearsal in their home base of Prudentópolis This unexpected hub of Ukrainian culture has become a haven for eight families who escaped the war in the last six months with the help of a worldwide network of evangelical churches Its ties to home provide not only a sense of comfort to those like Laryssa and her daughters but also deep connection to those who live there and a bond that can't be broken Ukrainian refugee Anastasiia Ivanova reads the Bible on the terrace of the apartment in Prudentópolis where she now lives with her mother and siblings The devout 22-year-old says her faith is what's helped her get through all of her trials She brought her Bible with her when the family fled Kharkiv Three pizza boxes are stacked in the center of Andreia and Paulo's dining table classmates at the nearby elementary school giggle as they take turns swinging a plastic sword at each other in the adjacent living room the smell of melted cheese and tomato sauce wafting through the air Their mothers chat as they get plates and cups from the kitchen cupboards When the few Ukrainian words he has picked up in the last couple months and slowly spoken Portuguese don't work He didn't grow up here and is not of Ukrainian heritage like his wife Paulo Bley of Prudentópolis and his two sons have a difference of opinion with their Ukrainian tablemates The chatter among the eight — in Ukrainian Portuguese and English — continues as they all settle in around the table Andreia places utensils next to the round cardboard boxes Sofiia gives a soft laugh at the thought of eating pizza with a fork and knife It might be the norm in Brazil but not in Ukraine She folds her slice in half before taking a bite A laugh over a hot meal was unimaginable for the 14-year-old and her family just a few months ago When bombs started falling from the sky over Cold Mountain the family hid in Anastasiia's room — at the center of their duplex When the bombs got so close they destroyed a school the girls once attended But the Ukrainian winter was too harsh and after two days of temperatures as low as -22° Fahrenheit We had half an hour to grab everything we could I got all of their things and forgot about myself Anastasiia Ivanova shows images of her home city of Kharkiv on her phone depicting the destruction during the Russian invasion that began on Feb They piled into their car and headed toward Poltava a destination for many since fighting hadn't yet reached the city giving them time to decide where to go next During the 20-hour trip — it should have lasted no more than two but the mass exodus meant traffic was bumper-to-bumper — a friend of Anastasiia's called and recommended they get in touch with a pastor in Poltava from the same church they attended in Kharkiv He was part of the Global Kingdom Partnership Network (GKPN) a group of evangelical pastors finding safe places around the world for Ukrainian families to start over when he sent a message over WhatsApp asking who wanted to go to Brazil But her faith that God would guide her and a dream she had where she was flying over the ocean made her change her mind The family embarked on a journey that would take them to Lviv Warsaw and Frankfurt before boarding a plane to Brazil to be able to do something for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters," says the pastor who came to Brazil with his wife and children five years ago to head up the local Baptist church "It was very important for us to welcome them." Pastor Vitalii Arshulik came to Prudentópolis from Ukraine 5 years ago to lead the local Baptist church The pastor has helped make the 8 newly arrived refugee families feel at home: "It was very important for us to welcome them." the connection between their new home and their old one was a shock They didn't expect to find traditional brightly colored wooden Ukrainian houses and churches with cupolas music and art — like embroidery and the intricate designs of pysanka Easter eggs two mediums that Andreia still practices today after learning them from her grandmother as a child — and their language spoken in the streets of the Brazilian town of 52,000 people would speak Ukrainian," says Anastasiia Gustavo Hull has danced in the Ukrainian-Brazilian Vesselka Folklore Group since he was 7 The dancers wear traditional Ukrainian garments At right: the Ukrainian heritage of residents of Prudentópolis is showcased in their hand-painted Easter eggs Town resident Andreia Burko Bley likes to make the eggs for herself and to give as gifts Sofiia and Ruslana were quickly enrolled in school while Laryssa and Anastasiia got to work organizing their new home They found solace in church and the kindness they received from neighbors But it wasn't until they were befriended by Andreia and Paulo that they truly felt they had found their place Laryssa and Andreia met during school pickup after Andreia's 6-year-old since his mom's first language was Ukrainian too In the background are the Nossa Senhora do Patrocínio Church and the cemetery showcases the Byzantine architecture typical of churches in Ukraine The Ukrainian spoken in Prudentópolis is slightly different than what is spoken in Ukraine today — an older version of the language that was brought to the town over 100 years ago and never changed — but that didn't stop Bruno's prediction from coming true Andreia started driving Ruslana and Sofiia to school so they wouldn't have to walk and she and Paulo helped promote Laryssa's baking business and set her up with the basic ingredients she needed to get started Before coming to Brazil the mom of three was already an entrepreneur running her own online toy store and a business selling pet parrots and parakeets Andreia Burko Bley of Brazil (right) is of Ukrainian descent The two women only met in June and have become close friends Laryssa brings fresh baked Ukrainian goods make sure the favorite foods of Laryssa's children are on the table the quietest of the family and an avid painter had a phone case with Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night," he gave her his sweatshirt with the painting replicated across the front "Their hearts are so big," says Anastasiia "In Ukraine we didn't have friends like this what they've received is so much more than what they've given "I never imagined it would be like this," says Andreia of her relationship with Laryssa's family As Laryssa stands at the black stone counter of her kitchen dusting an order of oreshki with powdered sugar before packaging it to be picked up She never imagined she would even visit Brazil because of something as simple as kindness Jill Langlois is an independent journalist based in São Paulo She has been freelancing from the largest city in the western hemisphere since 2010 writing and reporting for publications like National Geographic the environment and the impact of socioeconomic issues on people's lives Gabriela Portilho is a documentary photographer and journalist whose work investigates the relationship between human beings and their communities, focusing on environmental and gender issues. A member of Women Photograph and Native Agency a small city between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro The immigrants of Prudentópolis are doing their part to keep the culture of (independent) Ukraine alive after miles of pine and Araucaria forests and wheat fields under the blue and cloudless sky Techy—offer final confirmation: you have reached the heart of Ukrainian Brazil As the notion of what it means to be Ukrainian is tested on the battlefields of Eastern Ukraine These are Ukrainian patriots: originally from the province of Galicia in what is now western Ukraine in the sovereignty and unity of that country To that end they have raised money—$1000 recently for hospitals and refugees more coming soon—and tried to raise awareness of the Ukrainian cause Around seventy percent of the population of 50,000 inhabitants are the descendants of Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in the nineteenth century “The Vatican” for its vast number of chapels and churches they make a lot of honey (same explanation goes for “Black Bean Capital”) They have recently pinned their economic hopes on a different nickname—“City of Giant Waterfalls”—because there are more than 100 waterfalls in the area and they want to draw tourists in to see them but the adventure tourism is developing fast in the region” There are in fact backpackers and pickup trucks and 4×4 jeeps roaming the streets but one can’t help but feel that the off-road set is somehow in direct opposition to the real challenge facing this place: how to preserve the unique agricultural heritage and identity of its Ukrainian community The first large waves of newcomers arrived from Galicia which back then was the eastern end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire They were mostly illiterate peasants who were lured by the agents of shipping companies selling passage to the Americas Brazil and Canada had an open-door policy to European immigrants largely to populate strategic lands along their borders and in virgin forests But the shipping companies took this further: agents spread word of “lands without lords” the “roads made of emeralds” an Lviv intellectual who came to Brazil in 1895 to investigate the conditions for migrants later wrote: “if someone asked me to describe in one word what Brazil means for our migrants that word would be: tomb.” Oleskiv convinced many to give up or opt for Canada where they were to help consolidate Brazil’s occupation of the territory and grow food to supply the region But they arrived to a land of broken promises: no infrastructure Prudentópolis was then just a street of mud with a single telegraph line entirely surrounded by a large pine forest The government withheld provisions as a way of forcing newcomers to cleanse the forest and start planting but this led to extreme hunger and even death The struggle today is different: how to keep the culture alive and distinct after a century in Brazil One front in this battle is the futuristically-named Museu do Milênio which carefully tends a collection of artifacts and tools used by the colonists in their early years in Brazil Signs leading to the museum appear in both Portuguese and Ukrainian a detail that museum director Meroslawa Krevey says is quite important “The Ukrainian who comes here feels at home as we feel when we [go to Ukraine].” It’s not an idle thought: one local travel agency specializes in bringing Brazilians to Ukraine Ukrainian instruction in the public schools—when I visit one school I see students talking to teachers in Portuguese and each other in Ukrainian with the start of the “New State” and the outbreak of World War II the government of Getúlio Vargas used national security as an excuse to ban the use of foreign languages in public “We sat in class with the Brazilian students [But] afterwards the catechist led us into the woods and there we climbed the trees while she dictated Ukrainian lessons from behind a pine tree so as not to attract the attention of the authorities,” recalls Madeleine Zakaluguem Kolecha She now maintains a private museum with objects and photographs inherited from her parents and grandparents Now she herself teaches her granddaughter Livia to speak Ukrainian The Pratsia is back in circulation as well and Ukrainian mass is broadcast on local radio This pride is on full display at the fifth annual Varéneke festival which is timed to coincide with National Flag Day back in Ukraine Ukrainian pop singer Tarás Kurchyk takes the stage singing a Ukrainian cover of “What A Wonderful World” Cousins Alessandro and Stucki Juliano Gaiocha are in attendance as well They tell me they have spent the last five years studying electromechanical engineering in Lviv with support from Ukrainian government scholarships at the farm where they lived with their families the language they learned was an archaic version of the language that had not evolved since their great-grandparents’ day thanks in part to a traditional Brazilian export: football The cousins made friends with the Brazilian players on FC Karpaty Lviv There they met with players like William Batista Eric de Oliveira Pereira and Danilo Avelar on weekends for barbecues and even feijoada with black beans harvested from seedlings that had been brought from Prudentópolis to Lviv But the homesickness and the growing conflict forced them to come back home where they are finishing their studies and living on the family farm once again The farmlands of Paraná are the center and lifeblood of the community a mixture from the time of immigration) is 19 but returned after just four months and took over his grandparent’s farm He studied business administration and has encountered difficulties with the Paraná system of faxinal farming wherein part of the land belongs to the community and is used to pasture animals owned that are privately owned by individual families It’s an admirable mix of communal and private property but not above a certain level of cheating: Pielak says some producers who have little land but lots of animals are using an incommensurate amount of community land for their own benefit but to be Ukrainian in Prudentópolis means more than just wearing the flag at festivals It also means continuing their unique form of social and agricultural organization no blood will be spilled in the fight for the identity and unity of Brazil’s little Ukraine but it’s still an essential struggle for Prudentópolis Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel and so is the future of its two most storied and successful football clubs The town of Barentsburg located high in the Arctic feels every bit like a Soviet town stuck in time The Serbian capital has seen a thing or two the essentials for enjoying and understanding the White City a winery is cranking out the sparkling wine of Stalin’s dreams refugees are finding solace in the most unexpected places Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Ukrainian refugee Anastasiia Ivanova says her faith is what's helped her get through all of her trials She brought her Bible with her when the family fled Kharkiv for a new home in Brazil But a new crisis made her wonder if Brazil was the right place for her Shortly after the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022 Laryssa Moskvichova and her three daughters fled the bombs falling from the sky over their Kharkiv neighborhood By a circuitous route they wound up in an unfamiliar country: Brazil and eventually a town in the south called Prudentópolis known as "Little Ukraine" because of the many Ukrainians who'd settled there a century ago Last year we brought you the story of how this family was finding community and belonging in South America We caught up with Laryssa and her oldest daughter a year later to find out how they were faring as the war in Ukraine grinds on About This Series we'll be looking back at some of our favorite Goats and Soda stories to see "whatever happened to ..." the perfect landing pad for Laryssa Moskvichova and her daughters Anastasiia Sofia and Ruslana after their winding journey through Ukraine they were able to speak Ukrainian with many residents descendants of the first Ukrainians who settled Prudentópolis 116 years before Other elements of their culture were also still present in everyday life in the town of 52,000 dance and the intricate designs of pysanka They made fast friends with Andreia Burko Bley the refugees felt more at home than they ever expected in a place so far and so different from what they had known Despite Brazil's relatively liberal policies on accepting asylum seekers, many refugees find that there is little support from the government once they settle needing surgery to correct a collapsed lung While the public health-care system in Brazil was available to them — even non-residents can enter Brazil and use it at no charge — they worried it wouldn't be able to help her quickly enough Private health care might offer faster treatment and better access to the latest medical technology but it also cost far more than they could afford The family felt they couldn't risk another health crisis in a country where they were unsure they could get the required care quickly enough studying at a Brazilian school during the day and taking online classes through a Ukrainian school at night found it difficult to grasp why they couldn't go home The deeply religious family saw all these developments as signs from God "I didn't want to believe it," says Anastasiia I had heard a lot of things about Germany and a lot of them weren't good It just came to me in a different way than I expected." Anastasiia says she saw other signs: German flags in places where they once weren't a German family moving to Prudentópolis and friends of Laryssa's in Germany telling her to make the move Even a Brazilian friend told the family it would be best to leave as the country was struggling economically and government aid for refugees was inadequate Anastasiia asked around to see if anybody in her circle knew of someone in Germany who could help Three different people recommended a Ukrainian pastor at an evangelical church similar to hers He had gone to Germany at the beginning of the war and rebuilt his church there The pastor had helped many Ukrainian families find a place to live in their new home — something that can take months as demand for housing in the country is high — and his church provided them with funds to make the trip there just three or four days after she first phoned him that she could share with another Ukrainian woman She was planning to live on her own as she had before fleeing Ukraine Sofiia and Ruslana were still uncertain where they would live The family landed at the Frankfurt airport on Easter Day and Anastasiia took a train to her new home in the southeast Laryssa and her two youngest daughters were sent to a refugee camp standard procedure for refugees arriving in Germany who don't already have housing They would spend three weeks in four different camps set up in stadium-sized spaces lights were always on and noise never dimmed Many of the hundreds of people in the shared space were sick When Laryssa got the news that a home had been found for her and her two younger daughters 300-year-old home in the spa town of Bad-Orb just outside of Frankfurt and a six-hour train ride from Anastasiia she spends her days studying German online using YouTube videos and other free classes to learn as much as she can until she starts the government's integration classes early next year When Sofiia and Ruslana aren't in school — they've decided to stop attending Ukrainian school online and only study at German school during the day — their favorite places to go are the many parks and warm salt-water pools in their new hometown and the shops that line its streets The funding they receive from the German government isn't much but it's enough to get by — more than what they received in Brazil And the health insurance that covers them all puts them at ease Laryssa knows the move has been good for her daughters but she struggles with not being able to work and carry on with her life Laryssa says she often feels isolated and longs for the life she had before the war "But even if I wanted to go back to Ukraine now Our house is more than 100 years old and it likely didn't survive the bombings it would require so much work and money to fix it and there are no jobs with decent salaries she finished her arts degree through online learning and is considering teaching singing as she did in Ukraine Her government-provided German language classes start in September She has become good friends with her roommate and built a supportive community through her church When the owners of the apartment where Anastasiia lives gave her an old bike she fixed its faulty brakes and started riding it through the trails in the forest she can see from her bedroom window She's not yet sure how long she'll stay in Germany — "after so many changes who knows where I'll be in a year" — but for now is more than what many other Ukrainians have right now as the war continues to ravage her country the weather is great and there's so much nature where I can be at peace," she says "I can see that I'm living an answered prayer." Become an NPR sponsor In Prudentópolis - Brazil's "little Ukraine" - people have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a group of 29 refugees, including 17 children. The group, which arrived in the southern state of Paraná on Sunday, is in quarantine after Brazilian authorities said they had not completed the necessary health protocols before arriving. They have been quarantined for 15 days in the state capital of Curitiba before traveling to Prudentópolis - a capital where 75% of the population is of Ukrainian origin. Local churches will help them settle somewhere nearby until the housing project is completed. Ukrainians had gone to Brazil in 1895 and 1946, shortly after World War II, where they eventually settled in Prudentópolis and surrounding towns, reaching a population of more than 52.000. The city is filled with Ukrainian-language Orthodox churches and schools, displaying the national flags of Brazil and Ukraine. At the São José school, teachers have discussed the conflict in class and tried to give the children hope that the war will one day end. "I want to know what Ukraine is like and what it will be like after the war if it wins," said Vitor Eduardo Deczka, a 9-year-old student. Vitor lives in the village of Barra Vermelha, where another 150 families of Ukrainian origin live. His family has indicated that the area is eager to provide shelter for his compatriots. "They will be welcome here", said Vitor's aunt, Marcia Deczka. The translation of contents into other languages ​​is done automatically and there may be errors! Annex of the former Radio Prishtina (first floor) George Bush pn, 10000 Prishtina 202210:01 PM UTCBrazil's 'Little Ukraine' prays for ancestral homelandAfter the Russian invasion of Ukraine the churches in the southern Brazilian town of Prudentopolis built by Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in such large numbers from the late 19th century that it became known as Little Ukraine have been packed with locals wracked by feelings of despair and powerlessness walks along the entrance of the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute in Prudentopolis  "Ukraine is a country where people pray a lot now I pray for God to have mercy on that people who suffer" [2/24]Ukrainian descendants and members of the "Cossack brotherhood" pray the rosary inside the Sao Josafat church Some in the town drew parallels between their own families' exit from Ukraine and that of the millions of refugees fleeing in the wake of Russia's invasion Techy said she feared Ukrainian culture would be erased "Ukraine doesn't deserve this .. watches the news about Ukraine accompanied by family friend we are very sad with all that is happening in Ukraine we are following the news and our hearts are.. dresses in the typical attire of the "Cossack brotherhood" at home in Prudentopolis The club seeks to maintain ties with Ukrainian culture through dances and historical presentations "We learn to love Ukraine from childhood .. and we carry that love for our entire lives," Michalovski said... watch the news on television at home in Linha Esperanca they had a good life and now they have to leave everything displays photos of herself and her husband Jose Petel take care of their animals at their home in Linha Esperanca reads a new edition of the Pracia newspaper in her room at the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute in Prudentopolis a typical Ukrainian instrument at the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute in Prudentopolis "I am from the third generation of Ukrainians who arrived in Brazil My great-grandparents came from Ukraine before World War II they met on the ship and got married here in Brazil.".. "Every bit of sad news about the war is a stab in my chest when I know that our people are safe." Michalovski said... [15/24]Ukrainian descendants and members of the "Cossack brotherhood" perform during a rehearsal in Prudentopolis holds a priest's robe at the Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Catechist Institute in Prudentopolis balances on a swing outside her home in Linha Esperanca sits on pumpkins outside her home in Linha Esperanca [19/24]A man of Ukrainian descent rides a horse in Linha Nova Galicia [20/24]The entrance to a cemetery used only for Ukrainian descendants is seen in Prudentopolis holds a family photo at her home in Linha Barra Vermelha [22/24]Religious song books are seen inside the Sao Miguel Arcanjo church in Linha Nova Galicia talk inside the Sao Miguel Arcanjo church in Linha Nova Galicia we are following the news and our hearts are tight stands in front of the Sao Miguel Arcanjo church in Linha Nova Galicia many built in ornate Byzantine style by Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in such large numbers from the late 19th century that it became.. , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Reporting by Pilar Olivares; writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Leslie Adler Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved