Brazil, which chairs the G20, tried to "put the Ukrainian agenda out of the equation" during the summit, and the Ukrainian side's count on support from Western partners did not come true, Ukrainian Ambassador to Brazil Andriy Melnyk told Radio Liberty.

"As you understand, our forces here are unequal not only in relation to Brazil, but also to other countries of the Global South. Therefore, we frankly hoped that our friends not only from the G7, but also other Western countries... would help convince President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to change this approach. But frankly (and this was confirmed by my conversations just the other day in Rio de Janeiro)... then, unfortunately, no one really fought for us," Melnyk said, commenting on the results of the G20 summit.

Speaking about the final declaration of the summit, which does not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Melnyk said Western delegations did not try to change this.

"For us, this is a big blow. Without exaggeration. Those who had reservations there, some of our friends, individual, let's say, friends from the G7 simply 'swallowed' what was put on the table for them," the ambassador said.

The official said "regression and rollback" in the current joint statement of the summit, and this trend, according to him, is very alarming.

"We are talking about the competition of these new states, which [I mean the Global South, in particular Brazil, which sees itself as one of the leaders of this movement] have thrown down a real challenge to the Western world... Our American friends and European ones, if not to be completely diplomatic, are grazing in the rear. And my heart aches from this," Melnyk said.

He said Ukraine should also change its approaches and strategy.

"We need to sit down and soberly re-evaluate our capabilities: what we can do and what we cannot, and also bare our teeth. And our diplomacy now is that we run after everyone, you know, and ask: give us, do this for us... I hope that this summit in Rio will not only be a reason to complain. cruel. And we must admit that it is. And then calmly, with a sober head, determine an action plan," Melnyk said.