By Anthony Boadle
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Ukraine on Tuesday invited Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to visit the war-torn country and see for himself the consequences of the Russian invasion, while criticizing his efforts to broker peace talks.
The invitation came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Lula in Brasilia and remarked on Brazil and Russia’s shared views on the year-old conflict.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko confirmed on social media an invitation for Lula to visit Kyiv “to understand the real causes of Russian aggression and its consequences for global security.”
Nikolenko said Ukraine was following with interest Lula’s efforts to find a solution to the war, but did not accept that “the victim and the aggressor” be treated the same way.
He also rejected the view that “countries that help Ukraine defend against deadly aggression are accused of encouraging war,” a reference to Lula’s comments over the weekend, when he accused the United States and the European Union of prolonging the conflict by supplying arms to the Ukrainians.
Lula’s comments caused a storm among Western allies.
A White House spokesman accused Lula of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts.”
The European Union also rejected Lula’s suggestion that both Ukraine and Russia are to blame for the war. EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said all aid was aimed at Ukraine’s “legitimate defense.”
Lula has pitched himself as a broker for peace talks to end the Ukraine conflict, which began when Russia invaded the neighboring country in February 2022. His proposal, based on Brazil’s tradition of non-intervention and open diplomacy, calls for a group of countries not involved in the war to engage both Russia and Ukraine in peace talks.
The Kremlin has supported Lula’s statements on the need to find a group of countries to mediate peace talks, and Lavrov on Monday thanked Brazil for its efforts.
But among Western nations so far, only French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed Lula’s peace initiative.
Lula angered many in the West by calling for Western powers to stop providing arms for the war. Those comments came shortly after he returned from China, where he discussed the conflict with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Lula has said Russia should return territory it invaded last year, but he has suggested Ukraine might sacrifice Crimea, which was occupied by Russian forces in 2014, a suggestion that is rejected outright by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes and Jonathan Oatis)
