PARIS, June 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday called on the United Nations to assemble a group of countries tasked with seeking a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The initiative, which Lula made at a news conference during a visit to France, comes after French President Emmanuel Macron this week said Brazil had "a very important role to play" in the resolution of the conflict.

A second round of direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine opened this week in Istanbul, after a first round failed to secure a pause in more than three years of fighting.

"The UN can become a protagonist in this matter again," Lula said, calling UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "a good man".

The UN chief should "propose a group of friends" to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who would then "talk with them both, listen to their respective truths and then build an alternative", Lula said.

"What I am proposing is the creation of a commission consisting of countries that are not involved in the war to talk with Zelensky and Putin," he said.

Neither side would "get what they want but they can get what is possible", he said. "Neither 100 percent of Zelensky's position, nor 100 percent of Putin's position."

In contrast to most European countries, Lula maintains friendly relations with Moscow and has observed a position of neutrality towards the conflict in Ukraine.

Lula, who in July is to host the next summit of the BRICS group of nations in Rio de Janeiro, said that Putin was invited to the meeting despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court over alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale exchange of captured soldiers, a charge denied by Kyiv.