The Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on Wednesday in New York, a Brazilian presidential source confirmed to Lusa on Monday.
According to information previously released by the Brazilian press, and now confirmed to Lusa, the two presidents are expected to meet around 4:00 p.m. at the hotel where the Brazilian president is staying during his stay in the North American city to participate in the 78th session. of the United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting between Lula da Silva and Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to take place after the meeting that the Brazilian leader will have with the North American president, Joe Biden.
This will be the first time that Lula da Sila and Volodymyr Zelensky will hold a bilateral meeting, after, in May, on the sidelines of the G7 summit, the meeting finally did not take place, with Volodymyr Zelensky stating that “there were no steps” for part of Lula da Silva.
On the other hand, the Brazilian head of state said he was “annoyed” after the Ukrainian delegation postponed the meeting until finally not showing up.
Despite condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 of last year, the Brazilian president had already admitted in April the transfer of Crimea, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, as a way out of the conflict and, at the summit of BRICS, once again called for a negotiated peace and the abandonment of an “obsolete Cold War mentality.”
The now confirmed meeting between the heads of state of Brazil and Ukraine takes place at a time of conflictive relations between both countries, due to the statements made by Lula da Silva in relation to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the last of which It was by stating that he would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under a decision of the International Criminal Court if he came to Brazil.
The Brazilian President retracted his statements saying that such a decision would be up to Brazilian justice, but insisted that the country should review its presence before the International Criminal Court.
Putin is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued in March on suspicion of war crimes over the deportation of Ukrainian children.
“I really want to study this question of this Criminal Court, because the United States is not a signatory to it, Russia is not a signatory to it. So, I want to know why Brazil is a signatory to a court that the United States does not accept. Why are we inferior and have to accept one thing? “said Lula da Silva, in India, during her participation in the G20 Summit last week.
Days before, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, reminded his Brazilian counterpart that Ukrainians are victims of the Russian invasion and that “the war is not in Brazil”, rejecting territorial concessions and asking for respect for independent states.
“The war is specifically in Ukraine, the victims are specifically Ukrainians. They are not Brazilians, nor other Europeans, nor Americans. It is specifically tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands, who died or were injured, it is our homes that were attacked or bombed, not the houses in Brazil or other countries,” Zelensky said in an interview with RTP.
Source: TSF
