Kyiv faces “a real challenge” in the Middle East and Africa to provide information about the war in Ukraine, Parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk told The National in Washington before the Nato summit.
Mr Stefanchuk, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada parliament, is in Washington for a three-day summit to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary, with Russia's war expected to dominate the agenda.
Nato's non-member allies from the Middle East – including the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Israel – are expected to send delegations. Mr Stefanchuk emphasised Kyiv would be working with leaders from the Middle East and Africa to overcome the information challenge.
“This is a very important issue … because today, in addition to the issues of our war, there is a very important question of our victory on the international front,” Mr Stefanchuk told The National.
“We must talk [to Middle East partners] about what is happening in Ukraine because these countries are territorially far from Ukraine … we must do everything we can so the whole world hears.”
Analysts have argued that Ukraine in recent months has found itself “between a rock and a hard place” regarding the Middle East.
In the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, Kyiv responded like many of its allies in the West by voicing support for Israel. But as the scale of the war in Gaza intensified, Ukraine's goal of countering Russia's positive relationships in the Middle East and Africa has become more complicated.
Former US National Security Council official Fiona Hill argued at the Brookings Institute in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin sees “Israel as a key pillar for Russian foreign policy in the Middle East”.
“There’s already the framing in the region … that this is a European imperial conflict between Israel and Hamas. Putin’s playing right into that. The irony, of course, is that Russia itself is an empire,” Ms Hill said.
Analyst Iliya Kusa added that “it cannot be said that the pro-Palestinian countries of the Middle East and Africa are watching Ukraine’s position too closely”, he wrote for Carnegie Politika.
“But non-western states could cite support for Israel’s actions as a reason for refusing to support Ukraine’s negotiating position or join anti-Russian sanctions, or as justification for co-operating with Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also said that the war in Gaza has distracted world leaders from the war in Ukraine.
Mr Stefanchuk spoke to reporters at Washington's Ukraine House on Monday after a devastating barrage of Russian strikes in Kyiv killed more than 20 people, with a children's hospital being one of the sites struck.
He admitted he was “emotional” after the attacks, sharing that he “learnt about it from my children in Kyiv, they sent me an SMS text that they heard an explosion … and they said we are alive”.
Mr Zelenskyy will be in Washington this week, where he is expected to attempt to shore up financial and military support and bring Kyiv closer to the Nato bloc, as it works to become a member of the alliance.
Ukraine's forces are, Mr Stefanchuk argued, a “de facto Nato army … following Nato values, using Nato weapons, and performing Nato's main function” as a force against Russia.
“If this is not a Nato army, then what is?”
At the last summit, Nato leaders agreed to fast-track Ukraine’s membership process and set up a high-level body for emergency consultations, but Kyiv will not become a member at least until the war with Russia has ended.
Mr Stefanchuk added that he will also be going to Capitol Hill to meet bipartisan legislators in Congress “to ensure they don't charge their policy towards Ukraine” after victories in the US legislature to pass more funding for Kyiv earlier this year.
He will also have a series of meetings with parliamentary leaders from Nato countries. US President Joe Biden is expected to meet Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Deccan Gladiators 87-8
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What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
