Kyiv prepares to resume ties with Syria; starved of Russian gas, industry shuts down in breakaway Moldovan region

2 Jan 2025

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement of the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries follows an official visit by two of his Cabinet ministers to Syria, which under now-deposed president Bashar al-Assad was a staunch ally of Russia. In the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, all industry, except food production, has stopped a day after the supply of Russian gas to Europe shut down. Authorities said the northern part of the mainly Russian-speaking region has enough gas in reserve to last only 10 days.

Zelensky says Kyiv is preparing to resume diplomatic ties with Syria

Less than a month after the overthrow of the Russia-backed government in Damascus, Ukraine is preparing to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, 2 January 2025.

He was speaking after a visit to Syria by his Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, and Agriculture Minister, Vitaliy Koval, who said earlier that Ukraine had already sent a shipment of food aid.

“We are preparing to resume diplomatic relations with Syria and cooperation in international organisations,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with Syria in June 2022 after the then government in Damascus said it recognised the “independence” of the Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Since rebels overthrew Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad last month, Ukraine has been moving to build ties with the new Islamist rulers there. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, was a staunch ally of Assad and has given him political asylum.

Kyiv also planned to increase trade with Lebanon and at least double its agriculture exports from $400-million, Zelensky added.

Zelensky previously said that Ukraine would send 500 tonnes of wheat flour to Syria under Kyiv’s humanitarian Grain from Ukraine initiative in cooperation with the UN World Food Programme.

The delivery would provide resources for around 167,000 Syrians for a month, Koval said in a televised interview.

He added that the shipment will not be the last and that Syria was also interested in oil, sugar and meat deliveries.

“Today, at the level of government dialogue, we clearly understand that support should be sustainable and not a one-off, but rather long-lasting and predictable,” Koval said.

Moscow has also said it is in contact with the new administration in Damascus, including over the fate of Russian military facilities in Syria.

Starved of Russian gas, industry shuts down in breakaway Moldovan region

The cutting of Russian gas supplies to Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies, except food producers, an official said on Thursday.

The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday’s cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via its pipeline through Ukraine.

“All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production – that is, directly ensuring food security for Transdniestria,” Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel.

“It is too early to judge how the situation will develop… The problem is so extensive that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes – that is, enterprises will lose their ability to start up.”

Ukraine had allowed Russia to keep pumping gas across its territory despite nearly three years of war, and was earning up to $1-billion a year in transit fees. But Kyiv refused to renew a five-year deal that expired on Wednesday.

European gas buyers such as Slovakia and Austria had prepared for the cut-off by securing alternative supplies. But Transdniestria – despite its ties to Moscow and the presence of 1,500 Russian troops there – has been crippled.

The local energy company cut heating and hot water to households on Wednesday, urging families to keep warm by gathering in a single room, covering windows with curtains or blankets and using electric heaters.

Transdniestria’s leader, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said the region had gas reserves that could likely last for 10 days of limited use in its northern parts and twice as long in the south.

He said the main power plant had switched from gas to coal and should be able to supply electricity to residents in January and February.

Russia had been pumping about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Transdniestria – including the power plant, which also provided energy for the whole of Moldova, a country of 2.5 million people that wants to join the European Union.

Moldova has a long history of gas payment disputes and tense relations with Russia. The ex-Soviet republic is trying to cut energy consumption by at least a third and import more than 60% of its needs from neighbouring Romania.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the end of Russian gas transit as “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats” and urged the US to supply more gas to Europe.

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has slashed its dependence on Russian energy and increased imports from other sources including piped gas from Norway and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and Qatar.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the loss of Russian gas was hurting Europe economically, and the US was the beneficiary.

“Responsibility for the cessation of Russian gas supplies lies entirely with the United States, the puppet Kyiv regime, as well as the authorities of European states that sacrificed the wellbeing of their citizens for the sake of providing financial support for the American economy,” she said.

Russia says it struck Ukrainian energy facilities

Russia said on Thursday it had attacked energy facilities in Ukraine that support Kyiv’s military-industrial complex.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that over the last 24 hours it had used its air force, drones, missiles and artillery to target energy facilities, military airfields and Ukrainian military personnel across multiple locations.

Reuters could not independently confirm the extent of the attacks or the damage they inflicted.

Russia regularly reports such strikes, describing recent ones as retaliation for Kyiv’s use of Western-supplied missiles to strike deep into Russian territory

The ministry also reported that Russian troops had downed a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet, 97 drones and six US-supplied Himars missiles overnight. DM

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World

Zelensky says Kyiv is preparing to resume diplomatic ties with Syria

Starved of Russian gas, industry shuts down in breakaway Moldovan region

Russia says it struck Ukrainian energy facilities