diff --git a/Objects/longobject.c b/Objects/longobject.c
index 1369dac..80fe724 100644
--- a/Objects/longobject.c
+++ b/Objects/longobject.c
@@ -1687,8 +1687,8 @@
         WRITE_DIGITS(Py_UCS2);
     }
     else {
-        assert (kind == PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND);
         Py_UCS4 *p;
+        assert (kind == PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND);
         WRITE_DIGITS(Py_UCS4);
     }
 #undef WRITE_DIGITS
@@ -1845,8 +1845,8 @@
         WRITE_DIGITS(Py_UCS2);
     }
     else {
-        assert (kind == PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND);
         Py_UCS4 *p;
+        assert (kind == PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND);
         WRITE_DIGITS(Py_UCS4);
     }
 #undef WRITE_DIGITS