Ukrainian ambassador: No one in Brazil wants to talk about war

Ukrainian Ambassador to Brazil Andrii Melnyk has said that high-ranking Brazilian officials and politicians avoid talking about the war because of the so-called neutral position.

The diplomat said this in an interview with Radio NV, Ukrinform reports.

According to Melnyk, for him, the situation in Brazil is "ten times more difficult" than when he was working in Germany before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and in the first months after it began.

"I sometimes get the impression that people here live on another planet. No one here wants to talk about the war - and this is rather a sad fact. That is, if you go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hold meetings with parliamentarians, then the topic of war is simply avoided, because it is inconvenient, because there is nothing to answer, people are embarrassed by the official so-called neutral position regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine," the ambassador said.

In this context, he recalled that after a three-day visit by French President Emmanuel Macron who declared his intention to convince Brazil to take the side of Ukraine, Brazilian President Lula da Silva noted that the Brazilians do not have "the same nervousness as in France, because we are thousands of kilometers away from this war."

The diplomat stated that today Ukraine is "absolutely alone" in the context of activities in Latin America, and Western partners are not making active efforts to convince Brazil to change course.

Melnyk has served as Ukraine's ambassador to Brazil since June 20, 2023.