Brazilian President Lula Discusses Importance Of 'Building Peace' With Ukrainian Counterpart Zelenskyy

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly to discuss maintaining an "open dialogue" between the two countries, while trying to achieve peace.

The meeting between Silva and Zelenskyy took place Wednesday during the United Nations General Assembly, which was being held from Sept. 18 to 26 in New York.

Following the meeting, Silva shared a photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, to reveal they both had a "good conversation."

"Today I met in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. We had a good conversation about the importance of paths to building peace and always maintaining an open dialogue between our countries," the Brazilian President posted.

President Zelenskyy, on the other hand, posted a video on social media featuring the two leaders alongside other officials from both countries.

"Important meeting with @LulaOficial," he wrote. "Following our honest and constructive discussion, we instructed our diplomatic teams to work on the next steps in our bilateral relations and peace efforts. Brazilian representative will continue to take part in the Peace Formula meetings."

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, said the meeting between the two leaders had a "cooperative mood" and they were willing to strengthen their bilateral ties.

President Silva had said during the opening speech at the 78th United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that peace can be achieved based on dialogue.

"We do not underestimate the difficulties of achieving peace, but no solution will be lasting if it is not based on dialogue," he said. "I have reiterated that work needs to be done to create space for negotiations."

Aside from meeting the Brazilian President, Zelenskyy also met the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, on Wednesday and thanked the country for supporting Ukraine with military aid and strengthening air defense against Russia.

"Further strengthening air defense is especially important to protect our critical infrastructure ahead of winter and secure the grain corridor," President Zelenskyy wrote on X alongside a video of him meeting the chancellor.

The Ukrainian president also met the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis; and the minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Mariya Gabriel to discuss increasing trade relationships.

"Together — Ukraine, the EU, Romania, and Bulgaria — we discussed alternative routes which will help significantly increase volumes of transit while also decreasing pressure on Romanian and Bulgarian domestic markets," he posted.

Russia had invaded Ukraine last year, and since then, over 60,000 people have died, and over 17 million displaced, as per Stuff.