Ukraine Envoy Asks Again for Missile Defense Systems After Russian Attacks

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Amid fresh waves of Russian missile attacks, Ukrainian Ambassador Yevgen Korniychuk on Tuesday again urged Israel to supply his country with missile defense systems.

“Time is running out and our people are dying every day. What is happening in Ukraine is terrible. Russia is committing genocide of Ukrainian citizens. We cannot surrender. They are killing our people, especially civilians,” Korniychuk told Ynet.

Ukraine said that the death toll from a devastating strike on Dnipro in central Ukraine had exceeded 40 on Tuesday, with rescuers searching the rubble for 25 people still missing.

“They don’t pose a big threat to the Ukrainian army, so they focus on civilians. We urge Israel to respond to our request and provide us with defense systems against Russian missiles and Iranian drones, which will save human lives,” Korniychuk said.

“Our message is that Israel must be on the right side of history. We will win with or without Israeli aid, but we want Israel to be on the right side and prove that it really cares,” he said.

Israel has turned down repeated requests for weaponry from Kyiv, seeking to avoid antagonizing Russia, with which it has a delicate relationship in Syria, where the Israeli Air Force has carried out numerous raids against Iranian targets. Russia has complained multiple times about the Israeli operations, which have led to several Russian deaths, but continues to allow the raids.

In lieu of weaponry, Israel has provided humanitarian aid, and former prime minister Yair Lapid condemned the Russian invasion during his tenure.

Korniychuk also said that a postponed call between Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba was rescheduled for this week.

The Ukrainian envoy denied that the call had been delayed due to Ukrainian anger over Cohen’s call with Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, and Cohen’s remark that Israel would “talk less” in public about the war.

Korniychuk attributed the postponement to scheduling conflicts.

Having said that, he allowed that there was anger at Cohen in Kyiv.

“Of course, you understand our feeling after he spoke with Lavrov. We were disappointed by the conversation because it indicates a change in the Israeli position — it was the first conversation between the foreign ministers of Israel and Russia since the outbreak of the war,” Korniychuk said.

“Don’t tell me that this argument that Cohen talked to Lavrov because Lavrov asked to talk to him is serious. Do you know how many times Lavrov asked to talk to [former foreign minister] Lapid but Lapid refused to talk to him?”

An Israeli official told The Times of Israel following the Cohen-Lavrov conversation that it was not meant to signal a tilt toward Moscow, that “there is no change in Israel’s policy.”