Officials from Ukraine and Israel talked about Ukraine’s request for Israel to help with air defence. This came after Russia allegedly used Iranian “kamikaze” drones in a new wave of air raids on the war-torn country.
Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, said on Thursday that he had talked to Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the phone and “talked in detail” about providing air and missile defence systems and technology.
“I told him about the unimaginable pain, death, and damage caused by Russian missiles and Iranian drones,” he wrote on Twitter.
In a statement released Thursday, Lapid’s office said that the Israeli prime minister was “deeply worried” about the military ties between Russia and Israel’s biggest enemy, Iran.
This week, Ukraine said that Russia bombed Kyiv with four drones made in Iran. It also said that its air defences have shot down 223 Iranian drones since the middle of September.
The Kremlin said it didn’t know that its army was using Iranian drones in Ukraine, and Tehran said that claims that it is giving Russia weapons are “baseless.”
European Union countries, on the other hand, said they had found evidence to back up Kyiv’s claim and imposed sanctions on Iran on Thursday because it had given Russia drones.
Kuleba and Lapid talked on the phone two days after Ukraine asked Israel for more help with air defence systems to stop Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
Axios said that the request also said that Ukraine wanted Israel to teach its forces how to use the systems.
Since the Russian invasion began at the end of February, Israel has had to walk a fine diplomatic line to keep good relations with Moscow.
Even though it disagrees with Russia’s move, it is only helping with humanitarian aid because it wants to make sure Russia’s Jews are safe and to keep working with Russia on Syria, which is also in a state of war.
On Wednesday, Benny Gantz, Israel’s defence minister, said that Tel Aviv would not sell weapons systems to Ukraine.
A statement from his office, on the other hand, said that Gantz had asked Ukraine “to share information about their needs for air defence alerts.”
The statement said that Israel would be able to “help develop an early warning system for civilians that could save lives.” Instead, the Ukraine’s envoy had asked for systems that would shoot down the drones.
On Monday, Russia said that if Israel helped Ukraine’s military, it would hurt the relationship between Moscow and Tel Aviv in a big way.