War in Ukraine: prisoner exchange, American aid, restoration of ties between Syrians and Ukrainians… an update on the situation

Les prisonniers ukrainiens ont pu retrouver leurs familles. MAXPPP – UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Monday, December 30, 2024, discover the latest news about this conflict.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners

Ukraine repatriated 189 prisoners of war in an exchange with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday. “The return of our compatriots is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of those days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram, thanking the United Arab Emirates for its mediation efforts.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the two countries had each exchanged 150 prisoners. No explanation was given for the discrepancy between the announced figures. The Russian prisoners were released on Belarusian territory and will be transferred to Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry added.

Russia and Ukraine had carried out a prisoner exchange in October, following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates, during which a total of 190 people were released.

Biden announces $2.5 billion in new military aid to Ukraine

The United States will provide an additional $2.5 billion (€2.39 billion) in security aid to Ukraine, US President Joe Biden announced on Monday, less than a month before his term ends and Donald Trump takes office.

“Under my leadership, the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine's position in this war for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a statement. Washington will also provide $3.4 billion in the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, bringing the aid to $5.9 billion.

According to a U.S. official, the funding brings total U.S. budgetary assistance to Ukraine to just over $30 billion since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Most of that funding is used to keep the Ukrainian government running by paying civil servant salaries.

The aid announced by Joe Biden on Monday includes a $1.25 billion fund from the U.S. military stockpile, as well as a $1.22 billion package from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). Under the USAI program, military equipment is purchased from the defense industry or partners instead of being drawn from U.S. stockpiles. That means Ukraine could have months or even years to wait before it reaches the battlefield.

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The war between Russia and Ukraine will enter its third year next February, and there is no sign of abating as Moscow recently called in North Korean troops to bolster its positions on the ground. Those North Korean forces are suffering heavy losses on the front lines. About 1,000 of them have been killed or wounded in the past week alone in Russia's Kursk region, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday.

In a statement, Biden stressed that the new aid would provide Ukraine with “an immediate boost in capabilities that it continues to use very effectively on the battlefield, and longer-term supplies of air defense, artillery, and other critical weapons systems.”

Washington has provided a total of $175 billion in aid to Kiev since Russia invaded Ukraine, but it is unclear whether this will continue at this pace under President Donald Trump, who will officially take office on January 20. During the presidential campaign, Trump questioned the level of U.S. involvement in the conflict, suggesting that European allies should shoulder a greater share of the financial bill.

Some Republican officials have also been reluctant to provide more aid to kyiv. Republicans will hold majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate as early as next month.

Syria, Ukraine to deepen ties with 'strategic partnerships'

“Strategic partnerships” between Syria and Ukraine will be forged at the political, economic, social and scientific levels, Syria's new Foreign Minister Assaad Hassan al-Shibani said Monday, as kyiv seeks to build ties with Syria's new rulers amid waning Russian influence.

Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed Hussein al-Shariah, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, met in Damascus with a high-ranking Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.

“Certainly the Syrian people and the Ukrainian people have the same experience and suffering that we have endured for 14 years,” Assaad Hassan al-Shibani said, drawing parallels between the brutal Syrian civil war that began in 2011 and Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory in 2022. Andriy Sybiha said Ukraine would send more food aid to Syria after 20 shipments of flour arrived Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine had sent 500 tons of wheat flour to Syria in cooperation with the United Nations World Food Program. A global producer and exporter of grains and oilseeds, Ukraine has said it wants to restore relations with Syria after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, who is now exiled in Russia.

The Eastern European country, which has been fighting Russian invasion forces for nearly three years, traditionally exports wheat and corn to Middle Eastern countries, but not to Syria, which was close to Russia under the Assad regime and imported Russian goods. Through complex financial and logistical arrangements, Russia had supplied wheat to Syria, circumventing Western sanctions imposed on both Moscow and Damascus.

Russian deliveries to Syria were suspended after Assad’s fall, however, partly because of uncertainty over the new government in Damascus and delays in payments, Russian and Syrian sources told Reuters in early December.

The ouster of Assad by Syrian rebel forces also calls into question the future of Russian military bases in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the status of Russian military bases would be the subject of negotiations with the new rulers in Damascus. Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa said this month that Syria’s relations with Russia should serve common interests