During a Middle East tour early this month, Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Damascus and met Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa, signaling a restart and deepening of Ukraine’s diplomatic engagement in the region. Zelenskyy said the leaders agreed to cooperate to improve security and development, discussed regional prospects and Russia’s war against Ukraine, and expressed strong interest in exchanging military and security experience. They also discussed Ukraine’s role as a food supplier and steps to strengthen regional food security, and acknowledged Syria’s energy and infrastructure challenges.
The two presidents first met at the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2025, when their foreign ministers signed a declaration to resume diplomatic relations that had been severed in June 2022 after the Assad regime recognized the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. During the Damascus visit, agreements were reached to open diplomatic missions in Kyiv and Damascus in the near future.
Analysts say the rapprochement is a geopolitical setback for Moscow. Serhiy Danylov of the Kyiv-based Association of Middle East Studies noted that Syria long stood as a staunch Russian ally, and its shift marks a significant break. Dmytro Levus of the Ukrainian Meridian Social Research Center called Zelenskyy’s visit proof that Russia’s influence in what it viewed as a monopolistic sphere has waned.
Food security is a central element of the renewed ties. Danylov argued that under Assad, Syria consumed Ukrainian grain that Russia had taken from occupied Ukrainian regions, effectively legalizing the stolen supply. Ukraine has pressed Middle Eastern countries to stop buying such grain so it can supply them legitimately; Egypt has already agreed, and Syria is now being engaged. Food serves not only commercial but political purposes, and Ukrainian supplies could help ease inflation-driven social pressures in countries like Syria, Jordan and Egypt, reducing the risk of unrest.
Military and security cooperation is another area of potential collaboration. Mykhailo Honchar of the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies said Ukraine’s combat experience since 2022 has produced advances such as long-range and interceptor drones, technologies that have drawn Syrian interest. While Israel views the current Syrian government with deep distrust—raising sensitivities about arms or technology transfers—Honchar emphasized that Ukraine will act in its national interest. Ukraine could also assist in maintaining Soviet-era Syrian military equipment, provide humanitarian demining, and help rebuild energy infrastructure, drawing on its own experience.
Experts suggest these areas—food security, military-technical cooperation, demining and infrastructure work—could shape medium-term economic and strategic ties between Kyiv and Damascus, even as the relationship draws geopolitical attention for its implications regarding Russian influence.
This article was originally published in Ukrainian.