President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized the "peace" initiatives put forward by China and Brazil, assessing them as destructive. He said this in an interview with the Brazilian publication Metropoles.

"The China-Brazil proposal is also destructive, it's just a political statement. I told Lula [Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva], we conveyed to the Chinese side: 'Let's sit down and talk together. You are not our enemies. We are not your enemies. What makes you suddenly think that you should take Russia's side or be somewhere in the middle? What kind of view is that? In the middle of what? We're not fighting in the middle, we're not fighting on the border, we're fighting on our land. You have to stop the Russians, you have to show that you are strong countries," the head of state said.

"So, you have talked about some initiative with Russia, put it forward, and you say, 'Let's have such an initiative.' It's definitely not about justice, not about values, it's definitely without respect for Ukraine, definitely without respect for territorial integrity that both China and Brazil talk so much about," he added.

Zelenskyy also said that he had expected a more energetic stance from Lula, not just "political appeasement."

"Unfortunately, I believe that the Brazilian government supports Russia. I had a good conversation with President Lula and I thought he understood me. I was grateful to meet him and I was very open, totally open. I thought he would see in his experience an understanding of what was going on, not just political appeasement," he said.