Zelenskyy to Meet with Brazil’s Lula in New York at UN General Assembly
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet Wednesday in New York, the Brazilian president’s office said, after previous attempts at a sit-down fell through.
Lula, who has faced accusations in the West of being soft on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, will meet with Zelenskyy after a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Lula’s office said.
Zelenskyy had previously sought a one-on-one meeting with Lula at the G7 summit in Japan in May, but the attempt fizzled, with both leaders blaming scheduling conflicts.
Relations are tense between Zelenskyy and Lula, who has said his Ukrainian counterpart is “as responsible as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” for the war, refused to join Western nations in supplying munitions to Ukraine, and accused the United States of “encouraging” the war.
Zelenskyy quipped their aborted meeting in May had likely left his Brazilian counterpart “disappointed.”