The presidents of Ukraine and Brazil will meet for the first time in New York

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time in New York.

Reuters writes about this with reference to the Embassy of Ukraine in Brazil.

Lula and Zelensky will meet in person for the first time. Two sources in the Brazilian government told the agency that they will meet at the Brazilian presidentʼs hotel after his meeting with US President Joe Biden.

• In the evening of September 18, Zelensky arrived in New York. He will speak at the UN General Assembly, the Sustainable Development Goals Summit and the Security Council.
• On June 1, the Brazilian president condemned Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine. Before that, he took a neutral position and said that he did not want to choose a side in Russiaʼs war against Ukraine, but wanted to remain on the "side of peace."
• On May 22, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he was "upset" that the meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit failed because the latter was late. According to the Brazilian president, he was waiting for a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, but he "didnʼt show up... obviously, he had meetings and he couldnʼt come." Lula da Silva added that Zelensky is "already an adult" and knows what he is doing. In response to this, Zelensky said that everyone has their own schedules, which is why it prevented a meeting with Lula. When the Ukrainian president was asked at a press conference if he was disappointed by this situation, he replied: "I think it disappoints him (Lula da Silva)."
• In early 2023, Lula da Silva refused to transfer Gepard anti-aircraft shells to Ukraine, and later said he wanted to mediate between Ukraine and Russia to end the war.
• In an interview with TIME in May 2022, Lula da Silva said that not only Putin is to blame for Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine, but also the United States, the EU, and Zelensky. He said that Ukraine should have abandoned the path to the EU and NATO, and instead negotiated with Russia.
• The president of Brazil also offered to hand over the occupied Crimea to Russia in order to stop its war against Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine replied that there is no reason to cede their lands. Later, he noted that the US should stop "encouraging war" in Ukraine and "start talking about peace." Da Silva also stated that neither Putin nor Zelensky are making any peace initiatives.