EU responds to Lula that Ukraine is a victim and that the bloc helps in “legitimate self-defense”

The European Union (EU) responded this Monday (17) to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s criticism of the bloc’s support for Ukraine, claiming that the country is “the victim” of Russia’s “illegitimate aggression” and that it is collaborating with their legitimate right to defend themselves.

“It is not true that the EU and US are helping to prolong the conflict [da Rússia contra a Ucrânia]. The truth is that Ukraine is the victim of an unlawful aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” said EU Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Peter Stano at the European Commission’s daily press conference.

“The EU, US and other international partners are helping Ukraine to defend itself, otherwise it would face destruction,” he added.

The spokesman said so when asked about the latest statements by Lula, who visited China and the United Arab Emirates last week, regarding the war in Ukraine.

At a press conference at the end of his trip to the United Arab Emirates, the president stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not take peace initiatives”, as does Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and that “Europe and the United States end up contributing to the continuation of this war”.

“Russia bears sole responsibility for unprovoked and illegitimate aggression against Ukraine. There is no doubt who is the aggressor and who is the victim,” Stano said.

The spokesman stressed that Russia is destroying civilian infrastructure, abducting children and stealing Ukrainian property, while the EU and US “are helping Ukraine to exercise its legitimate right to self-defence”.

He also recalled that Brazil recognizes that Russia is violating the Charter of the United Nations and that it voted in this sense in the UN General Assembly “to condemn Russian aggression and ask that it stop and that Russia withdraw its soldiers from all Ukrainian territory. within its internationally recognized borders”.