Over the weekend of April 3-5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul and with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus, where the leaders agreed to expand security cooperation, including in defense, infrastructure and food security, Reuters reported on April 5. Ukraine and Syria restored diplomatic relations in late 2025 following the fall of Bashar al Assad, after which bilateral trade increased ninefold, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

The Istanbul meeting took place shortly after Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and followed recent Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure, including a reported April 2 attack on the Russkaya compressor station supporting TurkStream gas flows and a March 26 marine drone strike on a sanctioned tanker carrying Russian crude near the Bosphorus. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will reportedly travel to Kyiv and the region later in April.