Volodymyr Zelensky has accused some Arab leaders of „turning a blind eye” to Russia’s invasion ahead of his expected trip to the G7 in Japan.
Of the Arab League nations, only Syria has openly supported Russia’s invasion. Others have sought to maintain good relations with Moscow.
On Friday, Zelensky was in Saudi Arabia for an Arab League summit. „Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to those [prisoner of war] cages and illegal annexations […] I’m here so that everyone can take an honest look, no matter how hard the Russians try to influence, there must still be independence”, he said.
Zelensky also told the assembled leaders in Jeddah that his country was defending itself from colonizers and imperialists, appearing to invoke the Arab world’s own history of invasion and occupation.
Rather dissonantly to outside observers, host nation Saudi Arabia has on the one hand supported a UN resolution calling for Russia to withdraw its troops and pledging $400m in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, while on the other hand resisting imposing sanctions on Russia, preferring to see itself as neutral on the conflict.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman renewed his offer for Saudi Arabia to mediate between Moscow and Kiev to end the fighting at the summit.
Syria meanwhile has only just been readmitted to the Arab League – its leader Bashar al-Assad told the summit there was an historic opportunity for the region to reshape itself without foreign interference, reports BBC.
Zelensky also pointed at Iran for supplying Shahed drones to Russia. Iran denies supplying drones for the conflict.
