Brazil's Lula backs Russia-Ukraine talks to end war

Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva on Saturday again refused to be drawn into the war in Ukraine, calling for a "negotiated" settlement between Kyiv and Moscow.

Lula, who is seeking to revive Brazil's role as a dealmaker and go-between, has angered Ukraine by saying Kyiv shared blame for the war and has not joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Moscow or supplying ammunition to Kyiv.

"While my government condemns the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity, we support a negotiated political solution to the conflict," Lula told journalists after meeting Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Lisbon.

"We urgently need a group of countries to sit round a table with both Ukraine and Russia," he said.

"Brazil does not want to take part in this war. Brazil wants to build peace."

Portugal's president said: "President Lula believes the road to a just and lasting peace implies making negotiation a priority.

"Portugal has a different position. We think that for a road to peace to become a possibility, Ukraine must first have the right to respond to the invasion."

Lula, 77, who resumed office in January after previously serving as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010, met US President Joe Biden in Washington in February and earlier this month visited China, Brazil's largest trading partner.

He raised hackles when he said in Beijing that Washington should stop "encouraging" the war by supplying weapons to Kyiv, and that the United States and the European Union "need to start talking about peace".

"If you don't talk about peace, you contribute to war," he insisted on Saturday.