Zelensky: Russia-Iran Alliance Wouldn’t Have Happened Had Israel Assisted Ukraine

YERUSHALAYIM — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed Israel for the current military collaboration between Russian and Iran, in the invasion of his country.

Zelensky told a video conference organized by Haaretz that if Israel had acceded to Kyiv’s repeated requests for air defense aid, Moscow would not have turned to Tehran for the Iranian-made drones it has been deploying in the war.

“In eight months of war, Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us…and their stock is dwindling,” Zelensky said. “This is why Russia went looking for affordable weapons in other countries…it found them in Iran.”

Zelensky added that the Moscow-Tehran alliance will probably see Russia return the favor by helping Iran develop its nuclear program.

“This is exactly the meaning of their alliance,” Zelensky said. “And this alliance of theirs simply would not have happened if your politicians had made only one decision at the time, the decision we asked for.”

If Ukraine had “immediately secured our skies, Russian would not have a motive to go to Iran and offer something in exchange for assistance in terror,” Zelensky said. “We have been asking Israel for help since 2014. “The decision of your state, your governments…[was to] ‘not to annoy’ the Kremlin, not to help Ukraine for real.”

Israel has agreed to provide Ukraine with humanitarian aid and the absorption of thousands of refugees, but declines to sell it weapons due to the security priority of maintaining a working relationship with Russia which has forces in Syria that could interfere with IDF raids against Iranian targets. There is also a concern for the safety of the large Jewish community in Russia.

He asked whether Israel is “with the democratic world, which is fighting side by side against the existential threat to its existence? Or with those who turn a blind eye to Russian terror, even when the cost of continued terror is the complete destruction of global security?”

Prime Minister Yair Lapid told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that his government is concerned by the “dangerous closeness” between Russia and Iran, as a result, it is holding daily assessments to review its position on the conflict.

“It’s not something we are going to ignore or do nothing about… so what we need to do is reassess on a daily basis and react.”

Lapid added that Israel is also discussing the matter with Washington.

But he indicated that for the time being at least, Israel will continue to pursue its balanced policy of supporting Ukraine without provoking Russia to hostility.

“We are on Ukraine’s side,” he said. “We are supporting them. We just voted at the U.N. [General Assembly] and telling the world that we will never accept the annexation of the four regions [of Ukraine by Russia]. We are still the only country in the world that built a field hospital in Ukraine.”

At the same time, he said we have to “make sure Israel’s national security interests are being protected at all times.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on Monday that a Ukrainian official, speaking off the record, said Israel has provided intelligence useful for targeting the Iranian drones.