Waving flags and holding photographs of the conflict, Ukrainians gathered in front of the Brazilian embassy in Lisbon, this Friday (21st), to protest recent comments about the war in Ukraine made by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
Lula, who is on an official five-day visit to Portugal, has caused controversy in the US and Europe for suggesting that both Ukraine and Russia were to blame for the conflict, which began when Moscow invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
The Brazilian president said last weekend that the United States and European allies should stop supplying Ukraine with weapons, saying they were prolonging the war.
In recent days, he has toned down his rhetoric, condemning Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, while calling for mediation to end the war in a peace initiative. The Ukrainian government criticized the attitude, for treating “the victim and the aggressor” in the same way.
Ukrainian refugee Yana Kolomiiets, who has been in Portugal for four months, took part in the protest in Lisbon, and said she felt “terrible” when she heard Lula’s comments.
“It made me so upset because I don’t know how the president of Brazil can support Putin… this murderer,” said the 27-year-old.
Two Brazilian officials told Reuters on Thursday (21) that Lula should avoid criticism of the West’s role in the Ukraine war during his visit to Portugal. He will meet with the Portuguese president and prime minister on Saturday (22).
Outside the embassy, protesters held signs reading: “Russia is a terrorist state” and “Stop killing our children”.
“People die every day in Ukraine and we need international support,” said the president of the Ukrainian Association of Portugal, Pavlo Sadokha.
Sadokha’s association delivered a letter to the Brazilian embassy to express its displeasure. The document was delivered to the Brazilian ambassador, Raimundo Carreiro, and to the chief minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcio Macedo.
“Brazil and President Lula have a vocation for peace and the president will work to unite other countries to seek an alternative to end this conflict,” said Macedo after receiving the letter.
On Tuesday (18), Ukraine invited Lula for a visit, one day after the president met with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Brasília.
Asked if the president would visit Ukraine, Macedo said that Lula’s foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, would go. There is still no exact date for this to happen.
Source: CNN Brasil
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