Why Kyiv and Damascus restored diplomatic ties in September 2025
A look back at the restoration of Ukraine–Syria relations, announced on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
What did it take to repair a diplomatic break that dated from 2022? On 25 September 2025, the answer was still fresh from the day before: a meeting between two presidents on the sidelines of the eightieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
On 24 September 2025, Ukraine and Syria restored diplomatic relations as Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in New York on the margins of the session. The step reversed a rupture that began in 2022, when Ukraine cut ties with Syria after the government of Bashar al-Assad recognised Russian-occupied territories. Ukrainian reports from the day described the earlier decision as the Assad government's recognition of the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in June 2022.
The restoration was thus tied directly to the change of leadership in Damascus: the break had been a response to the Assad government's decision, and the meeting was held with the president now leading Syria.
A separate regional signal
Elsewhere in the region around Ukraine, security concerns were also shaping decisions. On 23 September 2025, Lithuania's parliament authorised its military to shoot down any unauthorised drones in its airspace, following recent incursions by Russian drones. Until then, only drones judged to be armed or to pose an imminent threat to critical state assets could be targeted.
The two developments, a week-end diplomatic repair and a tightened air-defence rule, were unrelated in their mechanics, but both showed how the war continued to reshape diplomacy and security arrangements well beyond Ukraine's borders.
