Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is increasingly busy hosting state leaders who fly in to discuss pressing global conflicts.

This Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met the Saudi Crown Prince to speak about Russia's war in Ukraine. This is ahead of a Tuesday meeting between Ukrainian and a US teams set to negotiate a potential end to Russia's war of aggression, as well as a security deal that would include US access to Ukraine's valuable mineral and metal deposits.

It will be the first time that Ukrainian and US delegates talk face-to-face after the public spat between US President Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy in the White House in late February.

The fact that the two countries have agreed to meet in Saudi Arabia — and not, say, in Europe — highlights the emerging key position of the oil-rich kingdom in the Middle East.

"Saudi Arabia has indeed established itself as a platform for dialog in the last two to three years," Sebastian Sons, a senior researcher for the German think tank CARPO, told DW.

"In Saudi Arabia's foreign policy strategy, it currently plays a very important role to talk to everyone," he added.

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In doing so, it would appear the kingdom is seeking to hold a position of neutrality, in order to maintain open channels of communication with all parties involved in the conflicts it is seeking to........

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