Zelensky criticizes Lula’s position on war. Brazil has already reacted

O Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, criticized the position of his Brazilian counterpart, Lula da Silva, on the war.

In an excerpt from an interview by the Ukrainian head of state to RTP, which will be broadcast in full tonight, Zelensky recalls that the war is not in Russia, nor in Brazil, nor in the United States, but in Ukraine, where people they are dying.

“When we talk about a formula for peace, unilateral or multilateral, we must be fair. And President Lula must clearly understand that the war is in Ukraine and not in Russia. Not in Brazil. Not in Africa. Not in the United States. The war is concretely in Ukraine, the victims are concretely Ukrainians. They are not Brazilians, or other Europeans, or Americans”, he began by saying.

“There are concretely tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands, who died or were injured, it is our homes that were attacked or bombed, not the homes of Brazil or other countries”, completed Zelensky.

When asked to comment on statements by Lula da Silva last week at the BRICS Summit that “Brazil does not contemplate unilateral formulas for peace”, the Ukrainian president defended: “To say something, it is necessary to understand who is the victim and who is the aggressor . This is very important. And, therefore, this is not a unilateral formula, it is the formula of the country that suffers from all this”, he added.

Despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year, the Brazilian President had already admitted in April to the transfer of Crimea, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, as a way out of the conflict and, at the summit of the BRICS, again called for a negotiated peace and the abandonment of an “obsolete Cold War mentality”.

In reaction, Zelensky declared that Ukraine is a democratic country and intends to involve “as many countries as possible” for Kyiv’s peace formula, which demands the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine and rejects any territorial concessions. However, he said he was open to proposals.

But if these proposals are based on ceding some part of the territory, then this is not coherent,” he said.

“It is not compatible with respect for our territorial integrity and sovereignty (…) People should respect the territories of independent States“, he finished.

However, the Brazilian presidency reacted to these statements, saying that it “respects” Zelensky’s words, but does not consider them critical because it has always condemned the invasion, according to RTP.

[Notícia atualizada às 20h52]

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