'I will not sell weapons to kill Russians': Brazilian president

MEXICO CITY

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asserted his country’s peaceful stance on the Ukraine-Russia war during a news conference Thursday.

At a Brazil-Portugal summit commemorating 200 years of relations, Lula, alongside Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, said Brazil would continue to push for a diplomatic and peaceful end to the three-year-old conflict.

He noted that in January 2023 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz toured South America to gather support for the Ukrainian cause from the leaders of Chile, Argentina and Brazil, and requested cannons from Lula to further Ukraine's war efforts to no avail.

"I will not sell weapons to kill Russians nor to kill anyone," said Lula, noting what he told Scholz.

"I want to apologize, but Brazil will not sell you the weapons you need," he said.

The war on Ukraine broke out just as Lula's administration was beginning. The Brazilian leader has since continued to gear Brazil's foreign policy toward peace without taking sides, not adding to the bloodshed that has amounted to hundreds of thousands of deaths since its beginning in February 2022.

In the three years since the beginning of the war, Lula has tried to unite an international bloc to pursue a peaceful end to the conflict.