(Reuters) – Senior Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak on Thursday criticized comments by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that Ukraine was equally responsible for the Russian invasion, calling them “Russia’s attempts to distort the truth”.

The leader of the polls, Lula, said in an interview with Time magazine published on Wednesday, that Russia should never invade Ukraine. But he said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was as guilty as Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the war.

PT, on the cover of the weekly, also said that US president Joe Biden should have done more to avoid war and accused the American of inciting conflict.

Podolyak wrote in a tweet, “Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva talks about blaming Ukraine or the West for the war. These are Russia’s attempts to distort the truth. It’s simple: Russia has treacherously attacked Ukraine… Classic destruction. and the war of occupation,” he said. , without further details.

Lula’s comments suggest that neither of the two main candidates in Brazil’s October presidential election will put much pressure on Putin and Russia, who have described their actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” to disarm the country.

President Jair Bolsonaro is an admirer of the Russian president and traveled to Moscow with Putin shortly before the invasion, ignoring US requests not to go.