Brazil’s Lula calls for ‘peace group’ to broker Ukraine-Russia deal

On Sunday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva again recommended forming a group of countries not involved in the Russia-Ukraine confrontation to broker peace, saying he had discussed the idea with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this week.

“I think we need to sit on a table and say, ‘that’s enough, let’s start talking’ because war never brought and will never bring any benefit to humanity,” said Lula, who has criticized the US and EU for their involvement in the crisis.

In Abu Dhabi, where he concluded his Asia tour, the Brazilian president told reporters that he was seeking to assemble leaders who “prefer to talk about peace rather than war.”

He mentioned Xi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he saw last week.

Lula has earlier said the committee should assemble countries not “encouraging” conflict and push arms suppliers to cease.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, the US and EU have sent arms and other backing. Germany requested arms from Brazil earlier this year, but Lula declined.

Lula maintained that war was “made by two countries,” appearing to blame Ukraine, and that resolving it would be harder because more nations would need to be persuaded.

“We are trying to form a group of countries that have no kind of involvement with the war to talk to Russia and Ukraine, but also the U.S. and EU, to convince people that peace is the best way to establish a process of conversation,” stated Lula.

This year, Lula spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. On Monday, Trump administration will host Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brasilia.