Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended a summit of the Arab League to seek its support for his embattled country, as heavy fighting continued in the Donbas-region town of Bakhmut and Russia’s defence minister visited occupied southeastern Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskiy urged Arab leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia to do more to oppose the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighting Russia’s “colonialist” bid to dominate its neighbour and the plight of the Muslim Crimean Tatar community in the Black Sea peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014.
“Crimea was the first to suffer under the Russian occupation and until now most of those who are subjected to repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims,” Mr Zelenskiy said, vowing that Ukraine “will never submit to any foreigners or colonisers.”
He thanked Saudi Arabia for helping to broker the release of 10 people from Russian prisons, but said that “unfortunately, there are some in the world - and here, among you - who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations.
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“I am sure we can all be united in saving people from the cages of Russian prisons,” Mr Zelenskiy added, as he continued a hectic round of international diplomacy following visits to several European capitals last week and before his reported attendance at the G7 summit in Japan over the weekend.
Like many countries outside Nato and its main Asia-Pacific allies such as Japan, Australia and South Korea, most Arab League states have not overtly condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions since February 2022.
Saudi Arabia has pledged some €370 million in aid to Ukraine and backed United Nations resolutions urging Moscow to end its invasion, but it has also declined to increase oil output to dampen world crude prices and reduce Russia’s energy revenue.
“We reaffirm the kingdom’s readiness to continue mediating efforts between Russia and Ukraine, and to support all international efforts aimed at resolving the crisis politically,” Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman told the summit.
Moscow is making a concerted diplomatic effort to persuade Asian, African and South American nations that it is not in their interests to side with the West, and the Kremlin portrays Ukraine as a mere puppet that the US is using to attack Russia because it stood firm against the wealthy “neo-colonialists” of the world.
Discussing inter-ethnic relations in Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that “our opponents…people with neo-colonial thinking – idiots, in fact - do not understand that this diversity that makes us stronger.”
The US has told its allies it will back a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 and other modern fighter jets, marking a significant boost to western support for Kyiv as it prepares a major counteroffensive.
US president Joe Biden has already informed fellow leaders attending a G7 summit in Japan of his decision, a senior administration official said, adding that the plan would include training “on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force”.
The fourth generation category includes Britain’s Eurofighter Typhoon and France’s Mirage 2000.
“As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” the senior official said. “This training will take place outside Ukraine at sites in Europe and will require months to complete. We hope we can begin this training in the coming weeks.”
The decision represents a dramatic shift in stance by Washington, which had previously presented the supply of F16s to Ukraine as unfeasible.
The speed of the U-turn took some allies by surprise. There had been reports that the US would give a green light for other states to make preparations to supply western fighter jets, but even close allies did not expect Mr Biden to support direct US involvement in a training programme.
Russia’s armed forces said they hit Ukrainian weapons depots and military training areas and staging posts with a missile attack in the early hours of Friday; Ukraine said its air defences destroyed 19 of 28 drones and missiles fired by Moscow’s troops.
Intense fighting continued around Bakhmut, a road and rail junction in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area that has been all but obliterated by months of battle.
“The situation on this front is very difficult, but under control…There is a certain element of us seizing the initiative from them and trying to counterattack,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy.
Russia’s fighting in the area has been led by the Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has lambasted Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu over alleged weapons shortages and chaotic retreats by Moscow’s troops from the flanks around Bakhmut.
The Russian defence ministry said Mr Shoigu visited a Russian command post in occupied southeastern Ukraine on Friday, praised senior officers and gave out medals, amid expectations that Kyiv’s troops will launch a major counteroffensive in the coming weeks.
