Saturday07 December 2024
nbn.in.ua

The Ukrainian ambassador criticized Israel for refusing to collaborate in countering Iranian drones.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevgeny Kornichuk, stated that Jerusalem did not accept the proposal to collaborate with Kyiv in countering Iranian drones.

He mentioned this in an interview with Ynet, which quotes the Times of Israel.

According to him, back in February 2023, he brought remnants of an Iranian drone, which Russia used to shell Kyiv, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. At that time, he warned that without cooperation with Ukraine, similar drones would soon be used to attack Israel.

“I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so’”, notes Korniychuk, alluding to the Lebanese group Hezbollah's strike on an Israeli military base using Iranian drones.

Despite the increased cooperation between Kyiv and Jerusalem since the beginning of Hamas's attack on Israel, the Ukrainian ambassador believes that more could have been done, particularly in terms of intelligence sharing.

Cooperation between Israel and Ukraine

As early as June 2022, Ukraine's ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniychuk, stated that Kyiv wants to acquire the Israeli “Iron Dome” and similar defense systems. He expressed that he views this air defense system not as a weapon, but as a tool that would save the lives of civilians.

However, at that time, the then Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, stated that the Israeli “Iron Dome” was unsuitable for Ukraine as it could not intercept Russian ballistic and cruise missiles.

By January 2023, Korniychuk talked about the transfer of Israeli technologies related to smart alerts for missiles and drones. At that time, he mentioned that the process was ongoing, and Ukraine was expected to fully receive the system “in due time.”

Additionally, Israel's representative at the UN, Gilad Erdan, announced in February of this year the transfer of a missile early warning system to Ukraine to counter missile strikes and drone attacks.