A Ukrainian diplomat said to the Israeli press that Tel Aviv is missing an opportunity to save the lives of its soldiers by working with Kiev on anti-drone technology.
Speaking with Ynet about Kiev’s anti-drone capabilities, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, said, “We are fighting from a different angle against the same axis of evil.”
“Unfortunately, we do not see much interest or appetite from the Israeli leadership in this field. I do not want to speculate about the reasons for that. I am very sorry to hear reports about soldiers who were hit by drones, because we suffer from exactly the same thing.” He added, “When meeting people from different parts of Israeli society, I often hear frustration over the fact that Israel is missing an opportunity to save more of its soldiers’ lives. Most Israelis support Ukraine and do not understand why Ukrainians are able to deal with drones and Israel is not.”
Israel has faced thousands of drone attacks by Iran and Hezbollah. Over the past month, Hezbollah has released dozens of videos of its drones targeting Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon.
Ukraine has sent about 200 drone experts to the Middle East to help the US and Arab states take down Iranian drones. Russia has used a variant of an Iranian drone during the war in Ukraine.
Komiychuk lamented that while some Arab countries were willing to accept Ukraine’s assistance, Israel was not. “As you know, President Zelensky recently made several regional visits in the Middle East, mainly to discuss security cooperation and advancing peace,” he said. “I worked hard to create direct political contact for our leadership. However, you cannot come to someone’s home without an invitation.”
While both Ukraine and Israel have been top recipients of American military aid and support, the relationship between Tel Aviv and Kyiv is strained. The most recent point of friction was a Russian grain shipment that Israel received. Kiev demanded that Tel Aviv refuse the grain, claiming it was stolen by Russia from Ukraine.
Kormiychuck said that while tension existed between Israel and Ukraine, “My duty as ambassador is to find common ground for mutual benefit and development, and I truly believe our conversations could have been much better.”
