According to information previously provided by the Brazilian press and now confirmed to Lusa, the two presidents are expected to meet around 4 p.m. at the hotel where the Brazilian president is staying during his stay in the North American city to participate to 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 the Brazilian leader will have with North American President Joe Biden.
This will be the first time that Lula da Sila and Volodymyr Zelensky will have a bilateral meeting, after in May, on the sidelines of the G7 summit, the meeting ultimately fell through, with Volodymyr Zelensky stating that “no steps had been taken” . ” in part by Lula da Silva.
On the other hand, the Brazilian head of state stated that he was “upset” after the Ukrainian delegation postponed the meeting until it ultimately did not show up.
Despite his condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year, the Brazilian president had already recognized in April the transfer of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, as a way out of the conflict. called again for a negotiated peace and an abandonment of an “outdated Cold War mentality.”
The now confirmed meeting between the heads of state of Brazil and Ukraine takes place at a time of difficult relations between the two countries, due to statements made by Lula da Silva in connection with the war between Russia and Ukraine, the last of which was on the statement 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 walked back his statements, saying such a decision would be a matter for Brazilian justice, but insisted the country would review its presence at the International Criminal Court.
Putin is the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued in March on suspicion of war crimes for the deportation of Ukrainian children.
“I really want to study this issue of this ICC because the United States has not signed it and Russia has not signed it. So I want to know why Brazil is a signatory of a court that the US is a signatory to. Do not accept. Why are we inferior and should we accept one thing?” said Lula da Silva in India while attending the G20 summit last week.
Days earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky reminded his Brazilian counterpart that Ukrainians are victims of the Russian invasion and that “the war is not happening in Brazil,” rejecting territorial concessions and asking for respect for independent states.
“The war is taking place specifically in Ukraine, the victims are specifically Ukrainians. They are not Brazilians, or other Europeans, nor Americans. Specifically, it is tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands, who died or were injured, it is our houses that were attacked or bombed, not the houses in Brazil or other countries,” Zelensky said in an interview with RTP.
Source: DN
