Brazilian President Lula da Silva this Saturday defended that the US should stop “encouraging war and start talking about peace” in Ukraine. In his final statements to journalists before leaving China, Lula claimed that this is the only way the international community can “convince” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world” and that the war only interests them both.
One of Lula’s travel goals, in addition to strengthening economic ties with its main trading partner, was to create a group of countries to work towards a negotiated solution to the conflict caused by the Russian invasion. But Brazil’s president, who met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, did not provide details on progress on the matter.
“It takes patience to talk to the president of Russia. It takes patience to talk to the president of Ukraine,” he said. “But above all it is necessary to convince the countries that supply weapons and encourage war to stop,” stressed the Brazilian leader, who arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday – who also took a neutral stance in the face of the conflict.
Russian bombing
Ukrainian emergency services announced on Saturday that at least 11 people were killed in a Russian bombing in Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine. Another 21 people were injured. One of the fatalities is a two-year-old boy, who was rescued alive from the rubble, but died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
The attack took place on Friday, with the city in the Donetsk region, which is still under Ukrainian control, hit by seven rockets, according to authorities. These damaged seven buildings, five houses, a school and an administrative building, with rescuers searching for survivors until late in the day. Another attack, in Kherson, killed two women.
For his part, the leader of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said that Four people were killed and ten injured in a Ukrainian attack in Yasynuvata, a town in the region controlled by Russian forces.. According to the same source, a seven-year-old girl is among the fatalities.
These attacks come as Russia claims to have advanced on the outskirts of Bakhmut, the scene of its longest battle since the invasion. “Assault Units [do grupo paramilitar] Wagner successfully advanced and captured two blocks on the northern and southern outskirts of the city,” Russia’s defense ministry told Telegram, reporting “intensified fighting” on the front lines.
with authorities
Source: DN
