China and Brazil continue their efforts to unite developing countries behind plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the initiative as serving Moscow's interests, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Seventeen countries attended a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Celso Amorim, adviser on international affairs to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The Chinese representative told reporters that the need to prevent escalation of the conflict, avoid the use of weapons of mass destruction and prevent attacks on nuclear power plants were discussed.
"Russia and Ukraine are neighbors who cannot be separated from each other and friendship is the only realistic option," Wang Yi said, adding that the international community should support a peace conference attended by both Russia, so is Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira discussed the conflict in Ukraine on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Russian ministry announced on its official page.
In addition to Brazil and China, 10 other countries from the Global South who attended the 17-nation meeting, including Indonesia, the Republic of South Africa and Turkey, signed a joint communique that Celso Amorim said builds on the six-point plan. proposed by Brazil and China in May.
The countries plan to continue meeting under the so-called "Friends of Peace" format.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky questioned why China and Brazil are offering an alternative to his own peace formula.
Offering "alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles," will only give Moscow the political space to continue the war, he said.
When asked about Zelensky's comment, Brazilian representative Celso Amorim told Reuters: "I am not here to answer either Zelensky or Putin, but only to suggest a way to (achieve – note p. ) peace".
Hungary plans to participate in the founding meeting of the "Friends of Peace" initiative. in New York, announced in a post on the social network "Ex" Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs, referring to a statement by Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, Ukrinform reported.
"Most of the world" wants peace, Szijjarto said, adding that countries in the Global South, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are frustrated by "paying the price for a distant war".
Hungary, France and Switzerland are the only European countries invited to participate in the "Friends of Peace" initiative, according to Ukrinform.