Ukrainian delegation visits Damascus for talks with Syrian leadership

On December 30, Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with a high-ranking Ukrainian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

The visit marks an effort by Kyiv to establish ties with the new administration in Damascus, Caliber.Az reports via Arab media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on December 27, that Ukraine had dispatched its first shipment of food aid to Syria, a nation historically aligned with Russia.

Zelenskyy stated that 500 metric tonnes of wheat flour were en route to Syria under Ukraine’s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, organized in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme.

As a major global producer and exporter of grain and oilseeds, Ukraine has expressed a desire to rebuild relations with Syria following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad and his subsequent exile in Russia.

Ukraine, which has been fending off Russian aggression for nearly three years, has traditionally exported wheat and maize to Middle Eastern nations but not to Syria, which under al-Assad predominantly sourced food supplies from Russia.

Russian wheat shipments to Syria have been suspended due to uncertainties surrounding the new government in Damascus and delays in payments, according to Russian and Syrian sources cited by Reuters earlier in December. Previously, Russia had supplied wheat to Syria through complex financial and logistical mechanisms designed to bypass Western sanctions on Moscow and Damascus.

The overthrow of al-Assad by al-Sharaa's faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has cast doubt on the future of Russia’s military installations in Syria, including the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently stated that negotiations with the new leadership in Damascus would determine the status of these military bases.

Al-Sharaa, for his part, remarked earlier this month that Syria’s relationship with Russia should advance mutual interests.

By Aghakazim Guliyev