Yermak stated that Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister, signed documents pledging aid during his weekend visit to Kyiv. This was the first time a Saudi foreign minister visited Ukraine since 1993, when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Yermak also thanked Saudi Arabia, who supported Thursday’s non-binding United Nations Resolution calling for the withdrawal from Ukraine of Russian forces. While Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries have not publicly condemned the Russian invasion, most of them voted for the U.N. resolution last Wednesday.

Yermak stated that Ukraine and Saudi Arabia face some common challenges, especially Iranian unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) which Iran supplied to both Yemeni insurgents and Russian terrorists attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

On Sunday, President Zelensky met Prince Faisal to discuss the continued support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Saudi participation in U.N peace negotiations. They also discussed a partnership to supply Ukrainian grains to African countries facing a crisis.

In November, Ukraine launched a program to guarantee continued supplies of grain to Africa. This initiative used a Black Sea corridor that Russia opened exclusively for food shipments. Zelensky stated that the “Grain From Ukraine” program would show Ukraine’s determination to remain a responsible global citizen despite the hardships caused by the Russian invasion.

Last spring, the Saudi government expressed concern that the Russian attack might “cause quite a few problems” for the “very vulnerable” countries of North Africa and the Middle East, both of which heavily depend on imports of food.

“We are pleased to welcome the minister and express our deepest commitment to the growth of our relations. After meeting with the Saudi foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that they will jointly seek ways to strengthen their positions in the Global South, particularly in Africa.

Kuleba stated that interaction with Saudi Arabia is not just at bilateral level but also at multilateral level within the U.N. and other international organisations. He added, “We see interaction not only at regional level, but also at the multilateral level.”

Al Jazeera News reported in October that the Saudis and their Arab allies were generally reluctant to “burn bridges” with Moscow by denouncing the invasion of Russia or imposing sanctions against Russia. However, they are open to joining U.N. resolutions calling to peace and providing non-lethal aid to the Ukrainians.

The Saudis seemed to relish the chance to use war to bring down President Joe Biden of the United States. Biden had decried Saudi de-facto chief executive crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as a “pariah” for human rights during his 2020 presidential campaign. Saudi Arabia maintains strong relations with Russia and has strong economic ties to China, Russia’s top partner in the emerging world order for authoritarianism.