One shift appears to have resulted from the May 10 visit to Kyiv by Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s special envoy, former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. Amorim described the talks as having been “trust-building,” while Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Andriy Melnyk, who met with Amorim separately, reported that the government evaluated “positively” the Brazilian President’s “intentions” in seeking peace — a change from the Ukraine regime’s previous cries that Lula was serving as a de facto Russian propagandist.
President Zelensky, who had met separately with Amorim, like Melnyk, insisted, however, “that the only plan capable of stopping Russian aggression in Ukraine is the Ukrainian Peace Formula,” as he wrote in a brief report on Twitter on his talks with Amorim. The Ukrainian plan, backed by the Anglo-American war party, insists that Ukraine join NATO and reclaim Crimea as well as the Donbas, while Russia and its leadership are ripped apart as the so-called “unprovoked” aggressor. Zelensky also reported that he had raised the possibility of a Ukraine-Latin America Summit with Amorim – something which most Latin American countries have not wanted to do, because they don’t want to be dragged into the war.
President Lula da Silva did not expect otherwise. He had explained in his May 9 press conference with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte the day before Amorim even arrived in Kyiv, that Amorim was not sent to reach an agreement, but to “find out what Zelenskiy wants,” just as Amorim had found out what Putin wants when he met with the Russian President a few weeks back. This is preparatory work for later negotiations.
Lula reiterated – for Rutte, as well as reporters — that “now is the time for diplomacy, not for war.” I will raise the need for peace with every foreign leader I meet, he said. “I believe that [peace] is possible. If I thought that it was impossible … I would not be involved in this up to my ears.” Lula repeated his statement from London: “the only thing that is impossible is that God commits a sin. People can do the rest, if they have the will to do it.”
