Lula faces protests in Portugal over Ukraine comments.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva has begun his four-day trip to Portugal, his first trip to Europe since being re-elected president for a third term. Lula aims to strengthen ties with Portugal and build up relations with the EU. However, Lula has irritated Western backers of Ukraine, including the EU, after appearing to partially blame Ukraine for the Russian invasion and calling on the US and its European partners to start talking about peace. Lula is expected to use the opportunity to try and relaunch negotiations for a major free trade deal between the EU and South America's Mercosur bloc.