Israel made a mistake by not providing military support to Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast on Monday.
“I think Israel made a mistake politically,” the Ukrainian leader told Fox News, emphasizing that ties between Ukraine and Israeli society have always been strong.
Zelensky added that when Russia invaded the country in 2022, he “asked Israeli leaders to help and support us, but they were afraid to [Vladimir] Putin, the Russian president.
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The president also specified that he had also asked Western leaders to “seek aid and assistance from Israel”.
Israel condemned the Russian invasion and provided limited support to Ukraine, including humanitarian aid and an air warning system, but no weapons. At the beginning of the year, the Financial Times reported that the United States, Israel and Ukraine were in talks to supply kyiv with up to eight Patriot air defense systems, currently owned and used by Israel.
Overall, Jerusalem reacted with relative restraint to the invasion, due to Russia’s massive military presence in Syria, Israel’s belligerent northern neighbor, and the need to preserve security interests at home. the country’s interior as well as foreign policy, while maintaining relations with Moscow and kyiv.
On the other hand, Russia has regularly criticized Israel since the pogrom perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, including at the United Nations Security Council, and has hosted leaders of the Palestinian terrorist group, in a context widely seen as an extension of its increasingly warm ties with Iran.
Israel also reportedly refused a Ukrainian offer for partnership to fight against drones manufactured by Iran.
Israel has worked to address the threat of drones throughout the current war. It was Hamas drones that first entered the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7, 2023, in order to disable electronic surveillance systems and pave the way for the barbaric and sadistic cross-border assault. Drones launched by the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis also managed to cause casualties in Israel, after evading the country’s air defenses.
Ukraine cannot fight alone, says Zelensky
Zelensky also told Fox News on Monday that he fears his country could lose its war against Russia if the United States cuts military funding to kyiv.
“We will fight. We have our own production, but it is not enough to win. And I think that’s not enough to survive. »
Newly elected US President Donald Trump is highly skeptical of the billions US President Joe Biden’s administration has given to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022.
Trump has repeatedly promised to quickly end the war, but has not provided details on how he would do so.
A woman walks past the United States Embassy in kyiv on November 20, 2024, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Credit: Tanya Dzafarowa/AFP)
This week, his allies sharply criticized Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by the United States to attack Russia, accusing him of a dangerous escalation.
Zelensky told Fox News that “unity” between Ukraine and the United States was “most important.”
Trump could influence Putin to end the war, “because he is much stronger than Putin.”
Putin “may be willing to end this war, but it also depends much more on the United States of America. Putin is weaker than the United States of America,” he added.
With Russia gaining ground and increasingly talking about negotiations, Ukraine fears it will be at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a peace deal.
