text: Russian invasion of Ukraine Lula has commented often on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine described his comments as "Russian attempts to distort the truth".
  In May 2022, Lula placed blame on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying "This guy is as responsible as Putin for the war". Lula also repeatedly attacked NATO and the European Union as having caused the war. He accused NATO of "claiming for itself the right to install military bases in the vicinity of another country". In April 2023, Lula declared after a state visit to China that "the United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace". U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responded by accusing Lula of "parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda", describing his comments as "simply misguided" and "suggesting the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in peace, or that we share responsibility for the war".
  In April 2023, Lula initially condemned Russia's violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and said Russia should withdraw from Ukrainian territory it has occupied since February 2022. Later, however, that same month, he suggested that Ukraine should "give up Crimea" to Russia in exchange for peace and Russia's withdrawal from Ukrainian territory it occupied after February 2022, saying Zelenskyy "cannot want everything".