Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday (local time) held a meeting with Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The two leaders held talks about the importance of paths to building peace and maintaining dialogue between the two nations.

It was the first in-person meeting of the two leaders, CNN reported. Zelenskyy called his discussion with Lula “honest and constructive.” He said that their diplomatic teams have been asked to work on the next steps in bilateral ties.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy stated, “Important meeting with @LulaOficial. Following our honest and constructive discussion, we instructed our diplomatic teams to work on the next steps in our bilateral relations and peace efforts. Brazilian representative will continue to take part in the Peace Formula meetings.”

Taking to X, Lula posted, “Today I met in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. We had a good conversation about the importance of paths to building peace and always maintaining open dialogue between our countries.”

Earlier, Zelenskyy met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and thanked him for supporting Ukraine. He called further strengthening the air defence important to protect Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.