During his tour of the Middle East early this month, Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Syria, a country that until recently was a close ally of Russia. The Ukrainian president's visit to the Syrian capital Damascus and his talks with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa mark the resumption and strengthening of Ukraine's diplomatic efforts in the region.

"We agreed to work together to provide more security and opportunities for development for our societies," Zelenskyy said in a statement. "We discussed the situation in the region and prospects for improving it. We also discussed the circumstances of Russia's war against Ukraine — I am grateful for the support. There is strong interest in exchanging military and security experience."

Zelenskyy also pointed out that they had discussed Ukraine's role as a food supplier, and strengthening food security across the entire region.

"We clearly understand the energy and infrastructure challenges that Syria is currently facing," he added.

Resumption of diplomatic relations between Syria and Ukraine

"For decades, Syria was a strongly pro-Russian country, with corresponding propaganda and a Moscow-centric worldview among the elites and the general population. And now [there is] such a geopolitical break," Serhiy Danylov from the Kyiv-based Association of Middle East Studies (AMES) told DW.

The Ukrainian and Syrian presidents met for the first time in September 2025 at the UN General Assembly in New York, when their respective foreign ministers signed a declaration on the resumption of diplomatic relations between Syria and Ukraine. These had been severed in June 2022 after the previous Syrian regime of Bashar Assad recognized the sovereignty and independence of the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian separatists established so-called "people's republics."

During Zelenskyy's visit to Syria, an agreement was also reached to open diplomatic missions in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and in Damascus in the near future.

Dmytro Levus, who heads the Ukrainian Meridian Social Research Center, told DW that Zelenskyy's visit to Syria was a sign of the extent to which Russia's ambitions had collapsed. He said that for a long time the Middle Eastern state was regarded as an unshakeable bastion of Russian influence, but now the situation has completely changed.

"Ukraine has entered a geopolitical arena that Russia has always considered its own, with a monopolistic influence. This is clearly a blow to the Kremlin," Levus told DW.

Ukraine asks Middle East to stop buying stolen grain from Russia

For Danylov, food security could serve as the basis for a fresh start in Syrian-Ukrainian relations. "Under Bashar al-Assad's regime, Syria consumed Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia from the occupied regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea. That is how the Russians legalized the grain," he explained.

He said that the situation was now changing and that Ukraine had demanded that countries in the Middle East stop purchasing stolen food so that it could supply them legally. Egypt has already agreed, he said, and Syria was the next step.

Food was not only a commercial instrument but a political one, he explained: "Food markets are part of government lobbying. There are examples of such lobbying in favor of Ukrainian interests at state level."

Danylov went on to speculate that Ukrainian food supplies could help allay fears of another "Arab Spring" breaking out, since rising food prices had been one of the factors that had led to mass protests and uprisings across the Middle East in 2011.

"In Syria, Jordan and especially in Egypt, inflation and rising fuel prices are currently driving up the cost of living," he said, adding that the poorer Arab states in particular were "very concerned about social stability" and determined to avoid social unrest.

Ukrainian military technology to support Syria

Mykhailo Honchar, from the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, told DW that military technology was also an important area of cooperation between Ukraine and Syria. He said that Ukraine had gained some unique experiences of combat and made a variety of technological advances since 2022, which included long-range drones and interceptor drones, which Syria was also interested in.

"This is a sensitive issue for Israel, however, as it is generally very distrustful of the current Syrian government," Honchar pointed out, adding that this was not a reason for Ukraine to not sell them to Syria. "We must act in our national interests, and there is hope of further cooperation."

Other experts explained that Ukraine could also help to repair and maintain the Soviet-era military equipment that Syria still possesses.

Apart from providing support regarding food security and military equipment, they said that Ukraine could help Syria with humanitarian demining and reconstructing its energy infrastructure, since it had extensive experience in both areas.

"For Ukraine, there are several potential areas of cooperation if one looks ahead on the Syrian market — not today but in the medium term," Danylov said.

This article was originally published in Ukrainian.