Lula and Zelenskyy will not have a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not hold a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit of leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, due to “incompatibility of agendas”.
Lula attends the G7 summit as a guest. The presence of the Brazilian President marked Brazil’s return after 14 years to the meeting of the group that brings together the world’s seven most industrialized economies (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom). .
This Friday (19), the President of Ukraine proposed to the Brazilian representative a bilateral meeting between the two heads of state during the Summit of Heads of State or Government. The information was forwarded to TV Globo by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the Brazilian government, the possibility of a meeting has been negotiated and a meeting room set up for the meeting. However, the meeting did not take place “because of scheduling incompatibility”.
According to the Brazilian government, Lula even offered more than one appointment, but the Ukrainian president’s team was unable to fit the meeting into Zelenskyy’s agenda.
When asked if he was disappointed that the meeting didn’t take place, the President of Ukraine wryly replied that he thought Lula should have been disappointed. Zelenskyy met with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, this Sunday (21).
Amorim in Ukraine
Zelenskyy’s request came a week after the participation of the President’s Special Counsel for International Affairs, Celso Amorim, in a meeting with the President of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine.
On that occasion he also stated that he hoped to receive President Lula in Ukraine and to continue the dialogue with the Brazilian government.
Lula and the war in Ukraine
Lula has defended that a group of countries including Brazil are leading a negotiated exit to end the war that has dragged on for more than a year. However, the Brazilian President said he has no plans to visit Russia and Ukraine until a ceasefire is reached.
After the fallout, Lula changed his tone and defended the integrity of Ukrainian territory and once again condemned the Russian invasion.