Brazilian Politician Faces Backlash For Making Sexist Remarks On Women Fleeing Ukraine

A Brazilian politician visiting Ukraine as part of a diplomatic mission sparked a huge backlash after making a barrage of sexist comments about the women fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

Arthur do Val, a 35-year-old São Paulo Congressman and former supporter of Brazil’s rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, was on a three-day trip to Ukraine to witness the devastation of the war first-hand and raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion when his description of Ukrainian refugee women with deeply sexist undertones led to mass fury.

Brazilians called on Do Val to resign after their state media leaked secret footage of him describing the trip in a vile manner, calling female evacuees as "easy" and "total goddesses," according to The Guardian.

"I’ve just crossed the border on foot between Ukraine and Slovakia. Bro, I swear to you … I’ve never seen anything like it in terms of beautiful girls. The refugee queue … it’s like 200 meters-long or more of just total goddesses … it’s some incredible shit … the queue outside Brazil’s best nightclub … doesn’t come close to the refugee queue here," Do Val was heard saying in one of the videos, according to the outlet.

In a second video, Do Val said: "Let me tell you, they’re easy because they’re poor," the outlet reported.

On top of making insensitive remarks about the refugee women, Do Val reportedly also spoke in a highly offensive manner about the female border security guards of Ukraine and Slovakia. "Just unbelievable, dude. As soon as this war’s over, I’m coming back," he said in the video.

Do Val did face fairly embarrassing consequences after the release of the video. As many as 40,000 people filed an online petition demanding his suspension from São Paulo’s parliament, with several prominent Brazilian political figures condemning his vile words.

Fabiana Tronenko, the wife of Ukraine’s former ambassador to Brazil, posted a video on Twitter where she called the politician "shameless." "Show some respect, you punk … you’ve no idea what the Ukrainian people are going through," Tronenko said.

Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Brazil, Anatoliy Tkach, called the remarks unacceptable while Gleisi Hoffmann, the president of Brazil’s Workers’ party, demanded Do Val be "stripped of power." In his defense, Do Val said the lack of water and access to a shower made him "over-excited" and he "talked nonsense," The Guardian reported.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, resulted in over 1.3 million people fleeing to neighboring European nations, sparking fears of the largest refugee crisis in a century.