The president of the republic dismissed on Thursday the death of Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin as “completely unrelated” to the war in Ukraine, saying it was important to understand how the occupied country could achieve its goals.
“I consider it completely irrelevant,” Marcelo Rebelo de Souza told reporters as he left the Kyiv hotel where he stayed last night to begin his return to Portugal.
Prigozhin died in the crash of a private jet on which he flew on Wednesday between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Over the weekend, the Head of State and the Prime Minister will visit Sao Tome and Principe for the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) summit.
In Kyiv, the president of the republic expected to rewrite his speech at the summit to include Ukraine and the issue of supporting an occupied country.
The topic was part of the meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, which is connected with the privileged position of Portugal in contacts with African countries.
According to him, there are countries on the African continent that take a neutral or ambiguous position regarding the Russian invasion, and others that share the position of Moscow.
Ukraine wants to gather more allies in Africa to expand international support and increase pressure on the Kremlin, which launched a large-scale invasion exactly a year and a half ago.