Brazil refuses to give Ukraine Gepard shells requested by Scholz

He said this at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, DW reports.

German Chancellor Scholz personally asked the Brazilian leadership for the supply of the shells.

Da Silva also avoided directly condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, saying only that Moscow "made a classic mistake" by attacking the territory of another country. In his opinion, Russia acted "wrongly."

The Brazilian president also noted that the true causes of the conflict do not seem so obvious to him.

It is worth noting that Brazil has always had close relations with Russia. The country is a member of the BRICS, an intergovernmental association of five countries, where, in addition to Brazil and Russia, India, China and South Africa are also members. The organisation was founded in June 2006.

• Earlier Lula da Silva rejected the German government's request to supply ammunition for Leopard 1 tanks, which Berlin planned to transfer to Ukraine.

• On January 25, Germany approved the supply of 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and also allowed re-export by other countries.