Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended a summit of the Arab League in Saudi Arabia on Friday to canvas support for his people, while Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed his readiness to mediate in the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
\nAlso at the Jeddah gathering, Arab leaders warmly welcomed back into their fold Syria\u2019s President Bashar al-Assad \u2014 who has received heavy support from Russia in his country\u2019s civil war \u2014 following a decade of isolation.
\n\u201cWe reaffirm the kingdom\u2019s readiness to continue mediating efforts between Russia and Ukraine, and to support all international efforts aimed at resolving the crisis politically in a way that contributes to achieving security,\u201d the Saudi Crown Prince said in his opening speech.
\nPrince Mohammed has mediated in the conflict before.
\nZelenskiy, who was also due to attend a summit of the G7 leaders in the Japanese city of Hiroshima this weekend, thanked Saudi Arabia for its past help and said delegates would each receive the text of his 10-point peace plan. He asked them to work with Ukraine directly without intermediaries.
\nGulf states have tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict despite Western pressure on Gulf oil producers to help isolate Russia, a fellow OPEC+ member.
\nSaving people
\nIn his address to the summit, Zelenskiy said some countries including members of the Arab League preferred to \u201cturn a blind eye\u201d to Russia\u2019s illegal annexation of Ukrainian land and to its jailing of some Ukrainians during the 15-month war.
\n\u201cI am sure we can all be united in saving people from the cages of Russian prisons,\u201d he said, speaking in English.
\nLast year, in a diplomatic coup, Crown Prince Mohammed secured the release of 10 foreigners captured by Russia in Ukraine. The move was apparently made possible by his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\n\u201cThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plays a significant role and we are ready to take our cooperation to a new level,\u201d Zelenskiy said wrote on Twitter shortly after arriving in Jeddah.
\nSaudi Arabia faced heavy criticism from the United States over an OPEC+ decision to cut oil production, seen as helping Russia to refill its coffers by boosting prices.
\nEven though the October decision initially drew the ire of the United States and other Western countries, market dynamics since then have shown the cuts to be prudent.
\nAt a time when Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine has roiled global energy markets, the role the kingdom plays as the world\u2019s largest oil exporter has grown in importance to both Washington and Moscow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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