Zelensky Addresses Saudi-Hosted Arab League Summit On Why They Should Stand Against Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is travelling to the G7 summit in Japan this weekend, where he’s expected to address world leaders in person, including of course pressing them for more weapons and other aid. He’ll travel there after his visit to Saudi Arabia.
On Friday he arrived in Jeddah – where oddly enough he’s attending the annual Arab League summit being hosted by the Saudis. As it turns out, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is attending the same meeting, a first in 12 years. Zelensky is meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while in Jeddah, after which his plane departs for the G7 in Hiroshima.
He gave a formal address to the 22-member Arab League. One online commentator summarized what many in attendance must be thinking. The Ukrainian leader wants to push wealthy Arab Gulf nations to get off the fence regarding the Russian invasion:
- Wealthy Gulf countries have provided aid to Kyiv, but have also tried to take a more cautious approach to the war due to their ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Saudi Arabia, in particular, has attempted to position itself as a mediator. Last September, the Gulf kingdom and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mediated a rare prisoner swap between Kyiv and Moscow, which included two U.S. veterans who had gone to Ukraine to help fight against Russia.
Indeed Arab states with significant trade and energy ties with Moscow are not going to risk Putin’s wrath, as the whole visit looks to be an exercise in regional leaders simply hearing Zelensky out. Zelensky upon arriving in the kingdom tweeted that Saudi Arabia “plays a significant role and we are ready to take our cooperation to a new level,” and that he’ll present to Arab leaders the issues of “political prisoners in Crimea and temporarily occupied territories, the return of our people, Peace Formula, energy cooperation.”
The Ukrainians are likely to have a more receptive audience at the G7, however, where Zelensky’s office stressed important decisions will be made. Likely he’ll continue pushing the need for Western fighter jets, as the possibility inches forward, as evidenced by Macron’s about-face on agreeing to train Ukrainian pilots announced this week.
