Ukraine war: Saudi Arabia's FM reiterates support for Ukraine during meeting with Zelensky

Saudi Arabia reiterated its support for Ukraine and a "peaceful solution" to the war during a visit by the country's minister in Kyiv on Sunday.  

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud: "We in Saudi Arabia are convinced that any end of the war should be through discussions, on a negotiation table in a framework of International law and through Charter of the United Nations to respect the sovereignty of the countries, this is why we will keep working with different parts to search for chance of getting to such a settlement." 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that China has not moved toward providing lethal aid that would help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and the United States has made clear behind closed doors that such a move would have serious consequences. 

"Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance, but if it goes down that road, it will come at real costs to China," Sullivan said in an interview with CNN. 

The foreign ministry said on Sunday that Moscow ally Algeria is set to reopen its embassy in Kyiv which has been closed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. 

"This decision comes within the framework of safeguarding the interests of the Algerian state," a ministry statement said. 

The Ukrainian military, on Sunday (February 26) said that Russia conducted an unsuccessful operation near Yahidne over the past day. This comes after Moscow’s Wagner group claimed that they have captured the Ukrainian village of Berkhivka which is located on the outskirts of Bakhmut. These conflicting claims could not be independently verified. The mercenary group claimed to have captured the villages in eastern Ukrainian, a region where the fighting has intensified in recent weeks. 

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Putin has  accused NATO members of taking part in the Ukraine conflict by donating arms to the country and said the West planned to break up Russia.

"They are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine. This really is participation," Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel. 

He added, "This means that they are taking part, albeit indirectly, in the crimes being carried out by the Kyiv regime." 

Russia's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying late on Saturday that the US is "exerting unprecedented pressure" on African countries, which includes attempting to disrupt a planned Russia-Africa summit.

As quoted by the state TASS agency, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov reiterated that the "collective West" staged a campaign to isolate Moscow.

Bogdanov told TASS: "The United States and its allies are conducting an unprecedented campaign for the political and economic isolation of Russia, including the disruption of the Russian-Africa second summit in St. Petersburg." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the confrontation with the West over the ongoing Ukraine war as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people. 

Putin also said that he was forced to take into account NATO's nuclear capabilities. 

In an interview with Rossiya 1, which was recorded on Wednesday but released on Sunday, Putin said, "They have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part - the Russian Federation."