By ILAN BEN ZION
Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister traveled to Kyiv on Thursday for the first public visit to Ukraine by a senior Israeli official since Russia’s invasion last year.
But there were no signs that Israel was preparing to significantly increase its modest support for Ukraine or meet Ukrainian requests to provide weapons.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s visit came just before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion and as Western nations seek to increase aid to the country.
Since the outbreak of the war, Israel has walked a tightrope between assisting Ukraine and avoiding friction with Russia, with which it has strategic regional interests. Unlike other western countries, Israel has not imposed sanctions on Russia or Russian officials, shared intelligence or provided Ukraine with weapons.
It has provided humanitarian support to Ukraine, including a field hospital, and pledged to provide defensive air-raid warning systems.
Cohen meet with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who said on Twitter afterwards that he was “thankful for all of the support that Israel and Israelis have provided over the past year.”
“During our detailed and frank talks, we focused on ways to enhance bilateral relations, increase assistance, and address shared security challenges,” he said.
Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, said that Israel “again assured us that they will bring the early warning system, but they didn’t say when.”
Cohen was also scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of the country’s Jewish community as part of the brief trip.
It was unclear whether Cohen would announce greater assistance to Ukraine during his lightning visit or whether the visit signifies greater Israeli engagement going forward.
“We’re here on an important visit of solidarity with the Ukrainian nation, which has certainly endured a very hard time in the past year,” Cohen said during a visit to a mass grave memorial in Bucha, outside Kyiv. He said Israel has supported Ukraine and provided humanitarian aid, and would continue to do so.
Cohen was reminded of the hardships endured by Ukrainians when air raid sirens sounded as he entered the country’s Foreign Ministry.
Cohen said earlier this year that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “will definitely do one thing: publicly, we will talk less” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but would keep providing Ukraine with humanitarian aid. Shortly after taking office, he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Israel maintains good working relations with both warring countries, and has large populations of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Israel also relies on security coordination with Russia over neighboring Syria, where Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in the past decade. Russian warplanes also operate in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Russia and Israel maintain communication to avoid conflict.
As other Western nations step up assistance to Ukraine, pressure has built on Israel to share some of its sophisticated military means with Ukraine, including from the U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem last month that he had emphasized “the importance of providing support for all of Ukraine’s needs – humanitarian, economic, and security.”
Yossi Shain, a former member of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee, said Israel’s ultranationalist government — which has butted heads with the Biden administration on the issue of West Bank settlements — may try to gain Washington’s favor by providing defensive capabilities to Ukraine, while “not crossing certain lines that will endanger its lesser involvement because of the threats of Russia” in neighboring Syria.
Last year, Israel’s former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, attempted briefly to mediate between the sides, flying to Moscow shortly after Russia’s invasion and meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Bennett said an interview earlier this month that Putin assured him at the time that Russia would not kill Zelenskyy.
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