‘Brazil cannot take part in Russia-Ukraine war,’ Lula says after Zelensky’s criticism

Brazil cannot interfere in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and those who want to engage in a dialogue with the Brazilian government should have done so before the war, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sept. 16, Metropoles reported.
The South American country has positioned itself as neutral in the war, refusing to join sanctions or provide military aid while proposing a peace initiative in cooperation with China.
President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Brazil’s and China’s joint plan, calling it “destructive.”
“You either support the war, or you don’t support the war. If you don’t support it, then help us stop Russia,” Zelensky said. The president added that he offered to discuss peace proposals with Chinese and Brazilian leaders.
Lula gave a speech during the graduation ceremony for diplomats at the Rio Branco Institute and, without explicitly mentioning Zelensky’s recent statement, said that “those who want to talk to us now could have done so before the war started.”
“Brazil has never been so important in the world as now. It’s not just because of agriculture business, it’s not just because of iron ore, it’s not just because of soy or meat. It’s because Brazil is an unbeatable country when it comes to energy,” Lula said.
“That’s why it’s important for Brazil not to take part in the war in Ukraine and Russia, that’s why it’s important for Brazil to say that we want peace, we don’t want war. Those who want to talk to us now could have talked to us before the war started,” he added.
At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Brazil’s president was a far-right politician and Lula’s rival, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula took office in January 2023, when the all-out war had already lasted for almost a year.
Prior to that, Lula was head of the Brazilian state from 2003 until 2011, three years before Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the partial occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by Russian forces.
In May, Brazil and China pitched a six-point peace plan that called on both Russia and Ukraine to avoid “escalation of hostilities” and “provocations.”
It came as a parallel plan to Ukraine’s peace efforts based on Zelensky’s 10-point peace formula, which included a global peace summit in Switzerland in June. China did not attend the summit despite the invitation, while the Brazilian representative who was present did not sign the resulting communique.
The six-point plan from Brazil and China calls for:
Moscow has previously said it would accept Brazil and China as intermediaries for possible peace talks. While the two countries refused to publicly take sides in the war, China served as Russia’s key economic lifeline and a source of dual-use goods.
There have been no direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia since early 2022.
Moscow named Ukraine giving up on occupied territory and ceding additional ground as conditions for talks. In turn, Kyiv’s 10-point peace formula includes a complete Russian withdrawal from the country.