Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Kyiv on Sunday where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and held a press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Saudi Arabia has strong ties with both Kyiv and Moscow and in October the kingdom pledged $400 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Saudi government said the aid was intended for “alleviating the suffering of Ukrainian citizens.”
“We continue to discuss opportunities to settle the crisis with all parties,” Prince Faisal said on Sunday. Following the meeting, both countries signed a memorandum of understanding “worth $400 million,” the Saudi Gazette reported.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said the two sides “discussed a range of issues on the bilateral and regional agenda. Ministers agreed to effectively streamline engagement of small and medium businesses from Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia has played a key role in negotiating prisoner exchanges during the conflict, helping secure the release of a number of prisoners in September.
The official Saudi Press Agency said at the time that “mediation efforts led to the release of ten prisoners of war, who are Moroccan, US, UK, Swedish and Croatian nationals, who are being released as part of an exchange of POWs between Russia and Ukraine.”
Last week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and issues pertaining to Opec, SPA said.
