BRAZIL continued its push for peace in Ukraine today as the Group of 7 countries ramped up their war of words and promised more sanctions against Russia.

Top diplomats from the G7 rich nations vowed to pursue a unified front against Russia, saying at the close of their meetings today that they were committed to boosting and enforcing tough sanctions against Moscow.

The ministers said: “There can be no impunity for war crimes and other atrocities such as Russia’s attacks against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure.”

“We remain committed to intensifying sanctions against Russia, co-ordinating and fully enforcing them,” the communique said, and would support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

“Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus are unacceptable,” the ministers said.

This comes as Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva stepped up his efforts to bring about mediation in the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Abu Dhabi, Lula said that two nations, both Russia and Ukraine, had decided to go to war.

A day earlier in Beijing, Lula said that the United States must stop “stimulating” the continued fighting in Ukraine and should start discussing peace. 

Earlier this month, Lula suggested that Ukraine could cede Crimea to Russia to bring about an end to the war.

The suggestion was dismissed out of hand by the US and the Ukrainian government.

Lula has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine while proposing a club of nations, including Brazil, China, India and Indonesia, to mediate peace in the conflict.

After meeting Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the West has engaged in “a rather tough struggle” to maintain its dominance in world affairs, including economics and geopolitics.

Mr Lavrov said: “We are grateful to our Brazilian friends for their excellent understanding of this situation’s genesis. We are grateful [to them] for striving to contribute to finding ways to settle it.”

Mr Vieira told reporters that Brazil sees sanctions against Russia as causing negative impacts for the global economy, particularly developing nations and that Brazil supports an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

Both foreign ministers were due to meet with Lula this afternoon.

Following the meeting, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby accused Brazil of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda.”

He said: “Brazil has substantively and rhetorically approached this issue by suggesting that the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in peace or that we share responsibility for the war.”