China, Brazil press ahead with Ukraine peace plan despite Zelenskiy's fury By Reuters

Written by Simon Lewis

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – China and Brazil on Friday continued efforts to rally developing countries behind a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the plan as working for Moscow.

17 countries attended the meeting alongside the United Nations General Assembly chaired by China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, and Brazilian foreign policy advisor Celso Amorim.

Wang told reporters to discuss the need to prevent the escalation of war, avoid the use of weapons of mass destruction and prevent attacks on nuclear power plants.

“Russia and Ukraine are neighbors that cannot stay away from each other and relations are the only ones that exist,” Wang said, adding that the international community should support a peace conference involving Russia and Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking later, after the meeting with Wang, emphasized the strong concern of the US about China's support of Russia's defense industrial base.

Speaking to reporters, he said that China, although it says it wants to end the conflict in Ukraine, “allows its companies to take steps that help Putin continue his violence. That does not add up.”

Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the conflict in New York with his Brazilian counterpart, Maura Vieira, Lavrov's ministry said on its website.

Along with Brazil and China, 10 countries from the Southern Hemisphere were present at the meeting of 17 countries, including Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey, and signed an agreement that Amorim said was based on the six-point plan proposed by Brazil and China. May.

The countries will continue to meet in New York under the umbrella of the “friends of peace,” he added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an “indefinite” deal to cooperate with Russian President Vladimir Putin through 2022, less than three weeks before Russian troops entered Ukraine.

Beijing says it has not supplied Russia with weapons to be used in Ukraine, but the West says its companies supply materials Russia uses to make military weapons.

Zelenskiy, in his speech at the meeting on Wednesday, asked why China and Brazil are proposing an alternative to his peace.

Proposing “alternatives, solutions, so-called principles” would give Moscow political space to continue the war, he said.

Asked about Zelenskiy's comments, Amorim told Reuters, “I'm not here to answer Zelenskiy or Putin, just to suggest a path to peace.”