Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will hold their first-ever in-person bilateral meeting on Wednesday while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting. CNN Brasil first disclosed the information, which The Brazilian Report has confirmed.
Lula and Mr. Zelensky had a video conversation back in early March. They came away with very different public summaries of what was discussed. Mr. Zelensky highlighted Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a point not emphasized by Lula in his discussions on the Russia-Ukraine war.
“A slot was offered, and it was accepted; we’ll see if it will happen. Things here are often unpredictable,” Celso Amorim, President Lula’s top foreign policy advisor, told reporters in New York. “But this is not our main agenda point here. The main [focus] will be with U.S. President [Joe] Biden, and tomorrow’s speech with the issues President Lula will raise.”
The two presidents failed to meet during the G7 summit in Japan. Lula said Mr. Zelensky was late. The Ukrainian President played down the fact that he did not meet Lula. “I think it disappointed him,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Since taking office on January 1, Lula has tried to play both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, changing the narrative depending on the audience. However, he has regularly echoed Russian talking points.
Lula’s position has attracted compliments from Russia and criticism from Ukraine. During a visit to Brasília in April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov thanked Brazil for what he called its “contribution” to resolving the war in Ukraine. Conversely, Mr. Zelensky has said that while Lula wanted to be “original” in his peace proposal, his Brazilian counterpart did not find time to meet with him at the G7 in Hiroshima.
Back in July 2022, Mr. Zelensky had a phone call with then-president Jair Bolsonaro. Later, Mr. Zelensky told a Brazilian television station that he criticized Brazil’s neutrality during the call and asked Mr. Bolsonaro for Brazil’s support. Despite Lula’s multiple disagreements with his predecessor on several issues, however, Brazil’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war changed little since Lula took office.
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