Foreign minister: Lula, Zelensky had “mutual understanding”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky met in New York Wednesday (Sep. 20), a day after the opening of the 78th United Nations (UN) General Assembly. It was the first meeting between the two.

“It was a very important meeting. There was a very good mutual understanding. Both presidents instructed their foreign ministers to continue working on bilateral and multilateral issues and to continue discussing peace,” Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told journalists shortly after the assembly.

According to the foreign minister, President Lula informed Zelensky that the Brazilian government’s International Affairs Advisor Celso Amorim will be the country’s representative at meetings of the Copenhagen Process, an initiative with other countries discussing peace between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, which triggered the war, began in February 2022 and has been going on for nearly 20 months.

“President Lula’s concern was to seek peace in order to put an end to the suffering, the deaths, and the destruction, which of course is shocking to all of humanity,” he noted.

In addition to the war, Minister Vieira said the two heads of state went over aspects of their bilateral relationship and talked about the need for reforms in international governance, including UN bodies like the Security Council.

Engagements in New York

Before the meeting with President Zelensky, the Latin American leader met with his US counterpart Joe Biden to launch a partnership to promote decent work.