Zelensky visits Saudis to push for peace plan

Ukraine’s president speaks with the crown prince, who has sought to position himself as a mediator.

DUBAI — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and met the kingdom’s powerful crown prince to push for a peace plan and the return of prisoners of war from Russia.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to position himself as a potential mediator to end the war between Ukraine and Russia — even as Riyadh remains closely aligned with Russia on energy policies through the OPEC+ group of countries. The day before, the prince hosted Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of its parliament, and a host of other Russian officials.

Zelensky’s trip came as Kyiv’s forces were slowly being pushed back in eastern Ukraine. Russia has gained the initiative due to its big advantage in troop numbers and weapon supplies, military analysts say, as Kyiv waits for news of new provisions from Western allies.

The Ukrainian military said Tuesday that it withdrew its forces from two more villages near Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region after intense overnight fighting, according to a Ukrainian army spokesman.

Zelensky said in a message on X that Ukraine continues to “rely on Saudi Arabia’s ongoing active support” in pushing forward with what has been described as a “peace formula” to end the war, which marked its second anniversary over the weekend.

The Ukrainian president has presented a 10-point peace formula that, among other things, seeks the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes — at a time when the two sides are fighting from largely static positions along a roughly 930-mile front line. Such ideas are rejected out of hand by Moscow.

“The second topic is the return of POWs and deportees,” Zelensky wrote. “The kingdom’s leadership has already contributed to the release of our people. I am confident that this meeting will also yield results.” He also said economic cooperation would be discussed.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency said that Zelensky arrived at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and was met by government officials. Later video showed Zelensky along with top officials in his government meeting with a smiling Mohammed. The Saudi energy minister was also on hand.

Video showed the prince and Zelensky, both of whom speak English, talking without interpreters in a vast hall at a palace.

Over the last several years, Mohammed has reached a detente with Iran, pursued a peace deal with Yemen’s Houthi rebels and offered himself as a leader in other global crises. That’s after facing widespread international condemnation for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was carried out on his orders.