MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ukrainian leader holds meetings with Lula and Boric

“Ukraine is interested in deepening cooperation with Latin America,” Zelensky said

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Wednesday met separately with his Brazilian and Chilean colleagues on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

 After a frustrated encounter during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima earlier this year, Zelensky finally met with Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“We had a good conversation about the importance of the ways to build peace and to always maintain an open dialogue between our countries,” Lula wrote on social networks. He also confirmed that his former foreign minister and special Advisor Celso Amorim would participate in the Copenhagen process in the search for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

The meeting took place “in a calm and friendly atmosphere, in which they exchanged information about each of the countries and the current situation in the world,” Brazil's current top diplomat Mauro Vieira told reporters.

Vieira recalled that Brazil remains in contact with the government of President Vladimir Putin and that he is due to meet in the next few hours with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

“After our honest and constructive discussion, we instructed our diplomatic teams to work on the next steps in our bilateral relations and peace efforts,” Zelensky admitted.

“I could use the undiplomatic expression 'breaking the ice'. It doesn't mean that there was ice between our countries, but it was a warm and honest atmosphere. I think now both presidents understand each other's positions better,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said after the meeting.

Zelensky had been disapproving of Lula's stance regarding the conflict. The South American leader had accused him as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin of not wanting peace.

In May during the G7 summit in Japan, Brazilian sources said the Ukrainian head of state was late for his appointment with Lula, who had launched a call for a group of neutral countries to negotiate a peace agreement, which has not yet been accepted.

Although he criticized Russia's military invasion, Lula does not support the United States and the European Union supplying arms to Ukraine.

Zelensky also met Wednesday with Chile's President Gabriel Boric Font, with whom he discussed a possible summit between Ukraine and Latin American countries to seek a “greater rapprochement.”

“I thank Chile for its support to Ukraine and its persistent condemnation of Russian aggression, including within the United Nations General Assembly,” Zelensky wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Both leaders also called for “expanding bilateral coordination.” The South American told Zelensky he could “count on our government in the call to stop this unjust aggression” by Russia.

Zelensky thanked his Chilean counterpart for his “supportive position” and his commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. “It is very important that they support our resolutions in the UN,” he said.

“Ukraine is interested in deepening cooperation with Latin America, and we discussed the possibility of organizing a Ukraine-Latin America summit,” the Ukrainian also noted.