Ukraine’s Zelensky lands in Jeddah to attend Arab League summit
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arriving in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ahead of the Arab League summit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DUBAI – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Jeddah on Friday to attend an Arab League summit, where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, heavily backed by Russia in his country’s civil war, will also be present now that his regional isolation has ended.
Mr Zelensky arrived via a French government plane. He is also due to attend the Group of Seven leaders’ summit
“Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plays a significant role, and we are ready to take our cooperation to a new level,” he tweeted shortly after arriving in Jeddah.
“I will meet with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman al-Saud and hold other bilateral talks,” he said.
He said his priorities for the visit would be “the presentation of our peace formula whose implementation should involve as many states as possible”.
“Another priority is the protection of Ukraine’s Muslim community” in the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, he wrote.
“Crimea was the first to suffer Russian occupation and most of those facing repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has mediated in the Russia-Ukraine conflict before.
In 2022, Prince Mohammed won a diplomatic triumph when he secured the release of 10 foreigners
Gulf states have tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict, despite Western pressure on Gulf oil producers to help isolate Russia, a fellow member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec+).
Saudi Arabia faced heavy criticism from the United States
Even though the October decision initially drew heavy criticism from the US and other Western countries, market dynamics since then have shown the cuts to be prudent. REUTERS, AFP
