Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Damascus alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, with a senior official saying the former was scheduled to meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al Sharaa.
The visit follows Zelenskyy's trip to Türkiye on Saturday and a Gulf tour last week against the backdrop of the US-Israel war on Iran, where he sought to clinch security deals and exchange Ukrainian drone expertise for air defence missiles.
Zelenskyy announced in a post that he had arrived in the Syrian capital, saying "important meetings lie ahead".
"Every nation and every region deserves a peaceful life," he added.
The senior official with knowledge of the visit said "cooperation between countries" and the "security situation in the region" were on the agenda.
Syria's official news agency SANA published pictures of Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani welcoming Zelenskyy and Fidan on the tarmac in the Damascus airport.
Ukraine, which is battling relentless Russian drone and missile barrages daily, urgently needs US Patriot air defence ammunition and fears supplies may sink due to the Middle East war.
Kiev has therefore sought to leverage its expertise in countering Russian drones, similar to those Iran has used in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.
Last week, Zelenskyy visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Russia was a key ally of al Sharaa's predecessor Bashar al Assad, now exiled in Moscow, during Syria's 14‑year civil war, supporting him with air strikes.
But the new Syrian leader has appeared to maintain balanced relations with Moscow. In January, he met President Vladimir Putin and so far has not asked Russia to withdraw from its military bases on Syrian soil.
