The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, during his speech at the summit of the League of Arab States in Saudi Arabia, called for help to protect Ukrainians from Russian aggression and to "take an honest look" at the war.
"I am sure all your nations will understand our basic emotion and our basic appeal that I want to leave here. A call to help protect our people, including the Ukrainian Muslim community," he said.
Zelenskyі noted that the war in Ukraine affected Muslims in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. The President reminded that Crimea was the first to suffer from the Russian occupation, "and still the majority of those who are subject to repression in the occupied Crimea are Muslims."
He also noted that there are leaders who "turn a blind eye" to Russian aggression.
"Even here there are people who have a different view of the war on our land, calling it a conflict. I'm sure we can all come together to save people from Russian prisons. Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to those prisons and illegal annexations," Zelenskyі told the summit participants, urging them to "take an honest look" at the war.
Zelenskyі's surprise summit trip to the Red Sea city of Jeddah was his first trip to the Middle East since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A representative of the League of Arab States told AFP that the invitation came from Saudi Arabia and not from the bloc itself.
