Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, and met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, and others.
During the visit, Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth $400 million to supply humanitarian aid to Ukraine. That includes $300 million in oil products provided as grants.
He was the highest-ranking Saudi official to visit Ukraine in 30 years, according to Bloomberg.
The trip has global diplomatic and economic significance, including on U.S.-Saudi relations. As Bloomberg noted, “the trip comes after Saudi Arabia was accused by the US of siding with Russia in its year-old invasion of Ukraine through its oil policy. Saudi Arabia steers the OPEC+ producers group with Moscow, and Washington has said its production cuts have been detrimental to the global economy. Saudi Arabia rejects this, saying its policy is aimed at balancing global oil markets and is not political. The rift soured US-Saudi relations last year but tensions have since eased.”
The US welcomed Prince Farhan’s visit, with a National Security Council official calling it an “important step.”
“We welcome the visit today by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister and a senior Saudi delegation to Kyiv, as well as the agreements reached to provide more than $400M in energy and other essential supplies, with deliveries starting next week. Important step.”
