Kyiv deserves some credit for what just happened in Damascus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
A direct link exists between the rapid collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and Russia’s struggles to conquer Ukraine after launching a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor nearly three years ago, Mr. Zelenskyy argued. A drained and distracted Kremlin could not come to the aid of a critical Middle East ally before he was toppled in a lightning coup over the past week.
The events in Syria are a “vivid example” of why Ukraine still requires the steadfast support of its backers inside NATO and the rest of the world, Mr. Zelenskyy noted on his Telegram social media page.
“The Assad regime not only because of the strength of the opposition. This happened also because there are not enough Russian troops there,” he wrote. “Why? Because the entire combat-ready Russian army is on the territory of Ukraine.”
Moscow strongly backed Mr. Assad’s regime since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, and provided direct military involvement since 2015. Mr. Assad fled and was offered asylum in Moscow following a swift offensive across Syria that ended over the weekend when opposition forces occupied the capital, Damascus, and ended his family’s 50-year iron rule over the country.
Moscow is scrambling to secure its key military bases in Syria, a sizeable airbase in northwest Syria, and a naval facility at the Mediterranean port of Tartus. Russian military intervention helped the Assad regime reclaim most of the country after violence erupted in 2015.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin was unable to again come to Mr. al-Assad’s rescue because of the Kremlin’s focus on its war in Ukraine.
“Everyone sees the importance of Ukraine and Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Mr. Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “The entire army of this ‘pseudo-empire’ is fighting against the Ukrainian people today.”
If Ukraine falls, Mr. Putin and his Russian forces will be free to return to Syria and take revenge for what happened to the Assad dynasty following the collapse of the government, Mr. Zelenskyy said.
“This is the most important thing that everyone should understand: In this union around Ukraine, success is the general success of the world — success that unites — and the unity that gives success,” he said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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