Kyiv has drawn up a list of demands that Secretary of State Eli Cohen must meet before a possible trip to Ukraine, among them a public condemnation of Russian aggression and a multimillion-dollar loan.
The request, which also includes an expression of support for the country’s territorial integrity, medical treatment in Israel, and the development of anti-missile technology, is less than previous requests made by Kyiv for defensive weaponry, but still comes from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. can force. in an uneasy truce as it seeks to navigate between warring allies.
Cohen is expected to visit Kyiv sometime this week to reopen Israel’s embassy, becoming the first foreign minister from a Middle Eastern country to visit the Ukrainian capital since the invasion began nearly a year ago.
A Ukrainian official quoted by the Walla news outlet said that a possible meeting between Cohen and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky depended on Israel’s willingness to step up in favor of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian official was quoted as saying, “The president will not meet with Cohen for the photo op.” Nonetheless, an Israeli official predicted that they would still meet. Cohen is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Among Kyiv’s requests is a $500 million loan for the country, according to Vala, citing unnamed officials from both countries. The request was already rejected by the previous government, and according to reports, Cohen is only willing to pay a 10th of that amount.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on January 15, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Ukrainians want Israel to bring hundreds of wounded soldiers and civilians to Israel for medical treatment, and asked the new government to continue with plans to develop an early rocket warning system to alert citizens of incoming attacks, which had been in place in the past. was a project initiated by the Israeli administration. ,
Kyiv has repeatedly requested Israel to provide the Iron Dome anti-missile battery to shoot down incoming rockets, but Israel has refused to provide the defensive weapon to Ukraine, fearing Russian repercussions.
Among the shopping-list of requests was Ukraine’s willingness to withdraw a 10-point peace proposal presented by Zelensky in December 2022.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is seen after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 7, 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
Publicly endorsing the plan could land Israel in further trouble with Moscow, even as Netanyahu’s government has sought to re-balance ties by reaching out to Russia.
One of Cohen’s first acts after being appointed to his role last month was to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whom the previous government openly sided with. Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgeny Kornychuk, criticized the foreign minister for speaking to a Russian diplomat before contacting Kuleba.
Kornichuk insisted that the fact that no Israeli foreign minister had spoken with Lavrov since the war began was evidence of a pro-Russian shift in Jerusalem’s foreign policy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses the Commission of the General Council of the United Russia party on February 3, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. (Pool photo via Yuri Kochetkov/AP)
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett initially sought to carve out a role for himself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine by attempting to maintain neutrality, a task that was increasingly difficult in light of Russian atrocities and antisemitism claims by Lavrov. Done.
On Saturday, Bennett published an interview in which he described a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in the early weeks of the war in which he was assured that Zelensky would not be harmed.
Kuleba, however, did not agree with Bennett’s words, tweeting on Sunday that the Russian president is a “false expert.”
“In the past, Putin has promised not to annex Crimea, not violate the Minsk agreements, not invade Ukraine, yet he has done all of this. Don’t be fooled: He is an expert liar. Every time He has promised nothing, so this has been part of his plan,” he wrote.
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian presidential press office and posted to Facebook Tuesday, March 15, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
According to unconfirmed reports, several assassination attempts against Zelensky have been foiled since the start of the invasion of Russia.
Those plots are said to have involved the Wagner Group, a security company controlled by Putin aide Yevgeny Prigozhin, as well as mercenaries from Chechen special forces.
