President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), at an event at Planalto Palace Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil 16.2.2023
The Presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, are scheduled to speak by phone by the end of this month. The talk between the two was arranged during a meeting this Saturday (18th) between Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Ukrainian Chancellor Dmitro Kuleba.
This is the first time Lula and Zelenskyy have spoken to each other since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Brazilian acknowledges that Russia is the main culprit in the conflict, but has gone so far as to say that the Ukrainian president is just as culpable as the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
“I always think if one doesn’t want to, two don’t fight. You must want peace. So far I’ve heard very little about finding peace for war,” the Brazilian explained in a press interview at the end of January.
Earlier this year, the Planalto Palace was consulted on the possibility that the federal government could provide Ukraine with war tank ammunition, but Lula refused to send the armor because he knew that if it did, Brazil would take part in the war, even indirect.
However, the Brazilian president has defended the creation of an organization of nations to settle the conflict and try to end the war. According to Lula, he has already pitched the idea to French President Emmanuel Macron, United States President Joe Biden and German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz.
chancellor meeting
The meeting between Mauro Vieira and Dmitro Kuleba this Saturday took place in Munich, Germany at the 59th Security Conference. According to Itamaraty, “the foreign ministers discussed the current situation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Brazil’s position on the conflict and Brazil’s contribution to the resolution to be voted on for the first time in the UN General Assembly, the ‘cessation of hostilities'”.
Kuleba thanked the Brazilian government for their manifestation. “I am grateful to Brazil for condemning the largescale invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” the Ukrainian chancellor said on a social network.
In addition, Kuleba said he invited Brazil to participate in the implementation of Ukraine’s peace formula, a set of measures devised by the Ukrainian government to try to end the war with Russia.
During the meeting, Mauro Vieira also stated that Brazil would not send tank ammunition to Ukraine.