Yerusalem, The Indonesia Post – Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel expressed his frustration at Israel’s refusal to provide “defensive assistance” to his country which is battling the Russian invasion.
At a press conference on Monday, Yevgen Korniychuk put on a helmet and rhetorically asked how such equipment could be considered lethal.
“Please tell me, how can you kill with this (helmet)? Impossible. So I don’t know what these people are afraid of. Giving (a device) personal safety to Ukrainians… that’s the simplest thing they can do .”
Despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel has limited itself to providing humanitarian assistance and has continued to open up to Moscow.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with the Russian president in Moscow on Saturday.
However, Korniychuk also expressed his gratitude for Israel’s efforts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. He said the mediation outweighed any military assistance Israel provided.
“The prime minister said yesterday (that) even if the (mediation) success is only one percent, he will try to do it… anything is possible in order to achieve peace,” Koriychuk told reporters.
“This is much more important than, for example, arms or ammunition sales, etc., that we are still fighting with Israel is a side issue, but because of (Israel’s) limitations we understand it,” he said.
Still, he said, Ukraine asked Israel to provide assistance with protective vests and helmets, one of which he wore when speaking. (mhn/bbs)
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