After months of receiving only humanitarian aid from Israel, Ukraine’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Kyiv would officially request Israel to immediately send air defense supplies.
As Russia continues to shower its neighbor with missiles almost eight months into its invasion, Ukraine is set to schedule a telephonic conversation between Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kolyeva on Thursday, during which Kolyeva will give an official request for air defense aid.
Source: The Times of Israel (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
However, an Israeli security official told Ynetnews that sending military aid to Ukraine won’t happen in the near future, despite Israel’s “understanding of the plight of the Ukrainians and the desire to help them.”
“There’s an understanding with Russia, basically a deconfliction mechanism that allows Israel to conduct operations against targets in Syria,” said Oded Eran, a senior researcher with Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
This being said, Israel’s Justice Minister Gideon Saar told Army Radio on Tuesday that “our support for Ukraine does not include weapons systems and weaponry – and there is no change to that position. Eran indicated that, while he sees “no problem in supplying Ukraine with certain items of weaponry,” the Ukrainian request might be a political one rather than military. “I wonder to what extent Ukraine needs Israeli supplies. If you look at the levels of supplies coming from Europe or the United States, they have gotten almost every type of air defense missile you could think of,” he suggested.
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