Ukraine demands Iron Dome, blasts Israel for lack of military support

Ukrainian ambassador to Israel demands that Jewish State furnish military support and publicly take embattled country’s side in the conflict.

By World Israel News Staff

During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel slammed the Jewish state for not providing the embattled country with military support. He said his country was interested in purchasing the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Yevgen Korniychuk told reporters that Israel refused to agree to a transfer of its advanced anti-tank missiles to the war zone after Americans had offered to transfer the weapons from Germany to Ukraine.

Korniychuk bemoaned what he said was a lack of support for Ukraine among the Israeli public, complaining that “Ukraine has been removed from the Israeli press almost completely. So there is no war anymore.”

“I want the Israeli government to move away from its comfort zone and get back to reality,” he stated.

“We need Israeli assistance… I mean that we need the military-technical support, we need the Iron Dome… that will allow us to save our civilian women and children from the shelling of the Russian missiles in our territory.”

As one of the few Western countries that maintains ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, Israel has toed a diplomatic tightrope between the two nations, repeatedly offering to help broker a ceasefire.

Because Russia has de facto control over Syria’s airspace, where Israel often carries out attacks against Iranian assets, Jerusalem must maintain good relations with Russia or risk losing its ability to defend its northern border. But Ukrainian government officials have repeatedly blasted Israel for refusing to send weapons or defensive supplies.

Israel has spent some $6.4 million on a state-of-the-art field hospital in Ukraine, a gesture which has not quieted Ukrainian demands for greater support.

A March speech to the Knesset by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky equating the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Holocaust rankled a number of Israeli lawmakers, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Shortly after the speech, Zelensky walked back his blistering comments that included slamming Israel for not applying harsh sanctions on Russia or clearly taking Ukraine’s side in the conflict.

“Of course, Israel has its interests, [its] strategy to protect its citizens. We understand all of it,” Zelensky said in a follow-up video posted to social media, according to a Reuters translation.

“The Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. [Naftali] Bennett, is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem,” he said.