by the associated pressUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a summit of Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on Friday, ahead of a trip to Japan for a meeting with the leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies, a senior official said.
Zelensky has made foreign trips in recent months to drum up diplomatic support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly 15 months ago and to seek more military support.
He had returned from a three-day visit to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and the United Kingdom earlier this week.
Ukraine and Russia are bracing for a major and potentially decisive phase in the war as Kiev prepares for an expected retaliatory strike. The conflict has been mired in a war of attrition in recent months amid bad weather.
Zelensky’s office said he had been invited to attend the Arab League summit in Jeddah, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, before holding other bilateral meetings.
Read also: A view on Bakhmut’s destruction: Satellite images show ruins of schools, shops and malls
A statement from the president said they discussed Zelensky’s peace plan, the security situation in Ukraine and possible investments in the country’s reconstruction. Zelensky also invited Prince Mohammed to visit Ukraine.
Zelensky urged leaders at the summit to resist Moscow’s influence and consider their peace proposals, which include the withdrawal of the Kremlin’s forces from occupied territories of Ukraine.
“I am sure that none of you will agree to surrender a third of your country to the invaders,” Zelensky said in English.
“Another priority is the safety of Ukraine’s Muslim community,” Zelensky said. “Crimea was the first to suffer from the Russian occupation, and most of the victims of repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims.”
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev accompanied Zelensky on the trip.
Zelensky will later travel to Japan for a Group of Seven summit, where leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies aim to increase punishment on Russia for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov. Is. ,
However, Danilov’s office later posted a statement retracting his announcement and saying that Zelensky would attend the G-7 summit via video link. Zelensky’s activities are kept secret for security reasons.
Meanwhile, Russia’s military continued its long-range bombardment of Ukrainian targets, while drones reportedly damaged train lines behind their front line.
Russian state media reported on Friday that about 130 meters (430 feet) of railway track was damaged and trains were halted for hours after eight cars of a freight train carrying grain derailed in Russia-occupied Crimea.
Thursday’s blast sparked renewed suspicions about possible Ukrainian sabotage activity behind Russian lines.
Russia’s Baja Telegram channel reported that train traffic in northern Crimea was halted on Thursday night after hitting a railway track near the town of Jamkoye.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said in a separate post that four Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight in the north of the peninsula. Aksyonov claimed that there was no damage or casualties.
Russia fired cruise missiles, drones and artillery across Ukraine overnight, killing two civilians, officials said Friday.
The attacks included airstrikes on Kiev for the second day in a row and the 10th time in three weeks. Kremlin forces also targeted central, eastern and southern Ukraine near the border with Poland, and the western Lviv region.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 22 Iranian-made Shaheed drones and six Caliber cruise missiles during the night. It said the air defense shot down 16 drones and three missiles.
Russian shelling in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region killed two civilians and wounded nine others, its governor, Pavlo Kirilenko, said.
According to a statement by Ukraine’s intelligence agency published on Telegram, the recently intensified missile attacks are aimed at “disrupting Ukraine’s plans and preparations for active military operations during the spring-summer campaign”.
The targets are Ukraine’s military control points and barracks, supply routes and places where ammunition, equipment, fuel are stored, it said.
Read also: PM Modi in Japan today for G7 summit, may speak on energy and food security. top marks