President Zelensky Attends the Arab League Summit, then G7 in Japan

VIVA – The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend the Arab League summit, before an expected appearance at the G7 summit in Japan this weekend. 

He is expected to arrive in Jeddah on Friday where Saudi Arabia will host Arab leaders, a source said,

The 32nd Arab League summit will be held today in the Saudi capital, Jeddah with the participation of Arab leaders, including Syrian President Bashar Assad who joined the meeting for the first time since the civil war in Syria.

As information, Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended back in 2011.

Zelensky's visit comes at a time when Ukraine is struggling to combat the Russian army after more than a year of invasion, as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Kyiv.

On Saturday, Zelensky will also travel to the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan on a French government plane according to the source.

His Saudi visit has not yet been confirmed by the Ukrainian foreign ministry, however, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told state television that "important" decisions will be made at the G7 and "therefore the presence of our president is very important to defend our interests."

His presence at the G7 meeting has not been officially announced by Zelensky's office. He was initially expected to address the summit via video link.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Ukrainian government official Ihor Dzhokova told Japanese news agency Kyodo that Zelensky will "carefully monitor the situation on the battlefield and then make a final decision" on whether or not he will attend in person.

Zelensky is also scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the summit. India, which maintains strong military ties with Russia, has refrained from condemning Moscow's invasion.