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Syria, Ukraine restore diplomatic ties at UN General Assembly

The Cradle | September 25, 2025

Damascus and Kiev have restored diplomatic ties following a meeting between self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

“We are pleased with this important step and are ready to support the Syrian people on their path to stability,” Zelensky said in a statement on 24 September. “During our negotiations with President Sharaa, we discussed in detail the promising areas for developing cooperation, the security threats facing both countries, and the importance of addressing them. We agreed to build our relations on the basis of mutual respect and trust,” he added.

“His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Ahmad al-Sharaa, met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky, in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Mr. Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, and his accompanying delegation, on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said.

Syria’s foreign minister and his Ukrainian counterpart signed a joint declaration on the restoration of ties in the presence of Sharaa and Zelensky.

Sharaa was the former deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, before becoming the head of the official Al-Qaeda branch in Syria, the Nusra Front. The Nusra Front was eventually rebranded into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which took control of Syria in December 2024.

Ukraine played a role in the 11-day offensive that resulted in the collapse of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Two months before Assad’s government fell, Russian media reported that hundreds of Ukrainian experts were training HTS in the use and manufacture of drones.

According to the Washington Post, the Ukrainian government provided HTS with “about 150 first-person-view drones” and at least 20 experienced drone operators in the lead-up to the offensive.

In 2022, Assad recognized the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic as independent and sovereign states, prompting Zelensky to fully cut diplomatic ties with Syria.

September 25, 2025 - Posted by | Militarism | , , ,

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