Syria’s de facto new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and other officials have held talks with Ukraine’s foreign minister in one of the most consequential visits since the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8. Syria hopes for “strategic partnerships” with Ukraine. The visit comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his country had sent its first batch of food aid, 500 tonnes of wheat flour, to Syria. Ukraine, which has been battling invading Russian forces for nearly three years, has said it wants to restore relations with Syria. It is likely that Russia will see the Ukrainian visit as an “extension of the West’s strategy to undermine Russian influence”.

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