MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a swipe Thursday at leaders who have adopted postures of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling them populists.
Zelenskyy鈥檚 comments, in a video link before a committee of Mexican legislators, were an apparent reference to leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian leader has to Ukraine, has appeared to ascribe blame to both sides and has proposed a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.
Mexico, under President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador, has voted to condemn the invasion, although it has declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.
鈥淭here are some leaders who have not visited Ukraine once and who have not seen what the brutal Russian aggression brought, and why it is important to defend lives,鈥 Zelenskyy said, adding "but simply seeking to achieve some sort of populism they say things like Ukraine is supposedly not ready to go for peace.鈥
Zelenskyy also slammed 鈥渄ifferent companies and big multinational firms that want to make millions by trading with Russia,鈥 adding 鈥渦nfortunately, the world is full of hypocrisy.鈥
Earlier this month, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations 鈥 Russia and Ukraine 鈥 had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop 鈥渟timulating鈥 the continued fighting and start discussing peace.
Lula has also suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, something the spokesperson for Ukraine鈥檚 foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.
The Ukranian president got an expected standing ovation from the legislators of the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group, most of whom belong to opposition parties.
In 2022, L贸pez Obrador , claiming it was equivalent to saying 鈥淚鈥檒l supply the weapons, and you supply the dead. It is immoral.鈥
鈥淗ow easy it is to say, 鈥橦ere, I鈥檒l send you this much money for weapons,鈥 L贸pez Obrador said. 鈥淐ouldn鈥檛 the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could.鈥
L贸pez Obrador did not say how, other than Russia not invading. In 2022, a half-dozen legislators from L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 Morena party helped create a congressional 鈥淢exico-Russia Friendship Committee.鈥
The Morena party said 鈥渨e respect the freedom of thought of our members鈥 after a youth group apparently affiliated with the party sent an open letter to the Russian ambassador supporting the invasion.
Russia has been making a sort of diplomatic push in Latin America this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.
Lavrov on Thursday met with recently reelected Cuban President Miguel D铆az-Canel, during the last leg of a Latin American tour that took him to Brazil, Nicaragua and .
