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What 30 December 2024 showed about Kyiv's diplomacy
Summary
A prisoner exchange, a new opening with Damascus and a quarrel with Slovakia over oil: three threads from a single day.
What did Kyiv's diplomacy look like on 30 December 2024, two days before the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine was due to be suspended? The day's reports pointed in three directions at once: towards the Gulf, the Middle East and a neighbour in central Europe.
A prisoner exchange brokered by the UAE
Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. Ukraine said many of those released by Russia were soldiers captured during the Siege of Mariupol in 2022. The role of a third-party mediator in the exchange was the notable feature of the deal.
Damascus and a possible partnership
On the same day, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha met Syria's de-facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus. The two countries re-established diplomatic relations. Syria said it hoped to form a "strategic partnership" with Ukraine, and Ukraine vowed to send additional food aid to Syria. The meeting showed Kyiv seeking ties well beyond its immediate region.
A quarrel with Slovakia
Closer to home, relations were tense. On 28 December 2024, Slovakia threatened reciprocal measures against Ukraine's plans to suspend the transit of Russian oil to Slovakia on 1 January, including a suspension of electricity supplies. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by accusing Slovakia of opening a "second energy front" against Kyiv under Moscow's orders.
The argument had a longer lineage. As later described, the dispute over Lukoil oil moving through Ukraine began after Ukraine tightened sanctions on the company on 24 June 2024, which included reassigning its contractual obligations to supply oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline to other companies. Officials in Hungary and Slovakia complained of a possible energy crisis. The European Commission, after examining the situation, saw no reason for concern.
What the day tells us
Taken together, the three threads show a country conducting diplomacy on several fronts simultaneously. It negotiated with Russia through an intermediary on prisoners, courted a new government in Damascus with an offer of food aid, and traded public threats with a European neighbour over energy. The pairing of humanitarian outreach with an energy dispute is the clearest contrast: in one case Kyiv was offering help, in the other it was bracing for retaliation that included electricity supplies.
