KYIV — Ukraine is looking to firm up its defense and diplomatic links with Turkey and Syria as its alliance with the United States comes under strain and U.S-led peace talks stall.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended his Middle East tour last weekend with a visit to Turkey and a surprise trip to Syria — on a Turkish state plane — where he held trilateral talks with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. The three agreed to deepen defense and energy alliances.
Zelenskyy also described his meeting last week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as “one of the most positive in all these years.”
“We agreed on new steps in security cooperation. This primarily concerns areas where we can support Türkiye — expertise, technology, and experience,” the Ukrainian leader said in a statement on April 4.
Ukrainian officials say Kyiv needs allies to not only continue peace talks with Russia, but also for friends who will support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence. That would strengthen Kyiv at a time when its alliance with the U.S. under Donald Trump has faltered.
Turkey has played a complicated game during the war in Ukraine. Russia is Turkey’s leading energy supplier and the country is a major destination for Russian tourists blocked from European destinations, but Turkey has historically been very wary of its large neighbor and is an important arms seller to Ukraine. However, while it sells weapons, it gives almost no military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv.
Erdoğan offered Istanbul as the venue for revived peace talks with Russia. Zelenskyy and Erdoğan also agreed to develop gas fields and energy infrastructure.
“Cooperation with Turkey is one of the guarantees of our energy security and logistical security,” Zelenskyy said in a statement to the nation earlier this week.
Warming relations with Turkey is part of Zelenskyy’s regional outreach. He struck defense deals with Gulf countries, offering to use Ukrainian expertise to defend against Iranian drone attacks.
After the overthrow of the pro-Russian regime of Bashar al-Assad — who is in exile in Moscow — Ukraine is exploring Syria as an opportunity for energy, defense and logistics deals. Although the country is emerging from a civil war with a shattered economy, Ukraine sees some advantages in closer ties with Damascus.
“Ukraine-Syria-Turkey triangle is a very important alliance that can guarantee stability between Black and Mediterranean seas. A safe link between Europe, Black Sea region, and the Middle East. Together three of us can achieve a lot,” Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
Looking for friends
For Ukraine, the core of any regional power shift involves cementing closer ties with Turkey.
Turkey is a major power in the Black Sea region and in the Middle East, with the second-largest military in NATO, a keen interest in the affairs of its neighbors and a very capable arms industry. Turkish defense firm Baykar is setting up a factory in Ukraine to build drones.
“Turkey is the only NATO country that can project power in the region, not provoking any global conflict,”said Igor Semyvolos, director of the Kyiv-based Association of Middle East Studies.
Russia’s war against Ukraine is worrying Turkey, fearing that Moscow could control much of the Black Sea, said Soner Çağaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Çağaptay said the regional instability triggered by the war in Iran offers opportunities for Ukraine, as regional powers search for new alliances, as well as logistical, military and energy deals.
Warmer ties between Ukraine and Turkey also counterbalance the alliance between Iran and Russia. Tehran supplied Moscow with Shahed drones used to bombard Ukrainian cities, and Russia reciprocated by helping Tehran locate targets throughout the Gulf region to retaliate against U.S. and Israeli attack.
Despite continued economic relations with Russia, it would be wrong to characterize Turkey as pro-Moscow, Çağaptay said.
“Now, Turkey can count on having a large bloc that can counter the Russian presence around the sea,” he added.
