Zelenskyy says Ukraine is preparing to resume diplomatic ties with Syria

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he is preparing to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria, less than a month after the overthrow of the Russia-backed Assad regime in Damascus, Reuters has reported.

Zelenskyy made his comment after a visit to Syria by his Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, and Agriculture Minister Vitaliy Koval, who said earlier that Ukraine had already sent a shipment of food aid.

Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with Syria in June 2022 after the then government in Damascus said it recognised the “independence” of the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ever since opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) ousted Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad last month, Ukraine has been moving to build ties with the new government in Damascus. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was a staunch ally of Assad and has given him political asylum.

Kyiv also plans to increase trade with Lebanon and at least double its agriculture exports from $400 million, added Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president said previously that his country would send 500 metric tons of wheat flour to Syria under Kyiv’s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine” initiative in cooperation with the UN World Food Programme. The delivery would provide resources for around 167,000 Syrians for a month, said Koval in a televised interview.

He added that the shipment will not be the last and that Syria was also interested in oil, sugar and meat deliveries. “Today, at the level of government dialogue, we clearly understand that support should be sustainable and not a one-off, but rather long-lasting and predictable.”

Moscow has also said that it is in contact with the new administration in Damascus, not least over the fate of Russian military facilities in Syria.

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