Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with Syria

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced this decision through a post in Telegram.

“There will be no more relations between Ukraine and Syria”, Zelensky said, saying the pressure on sanctions against Syria, “will be even greater”.

Donjeck and Luhansk known together as Donbas are facing fierce fighting as a result of the war Moscow has launched against Ukraine shortly after it has recognised the independence of these two regions.

Several parts of Luhansk and Donjeck are under Moscow-backed separatists, since Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

Leonid Pasechnik, leader of separatists in Luhansk, has thanked Syria and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for what he has considered a responsible and courageous political “getor for Luhansk's recognition as sovereign and independent state, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

Syria, Russia's close ally, has received Russian military assistance in its civil war, is the first state, after Russia, to recognise the independence of these two separatist regions.

Syria has also been on Russia's side in the past.

In 2018, he agreed to recognise Abkhazia and Océtine, Georgian breakaway regions, as independent states.

This step has prompted Georgia to sever relations with Syria. /rel