Israeli FM Eli Cohen in Ukraine for Meetings with Zelensky; Bilateral Relations Discussed & More Israeli Assistance Expected

Israeli FM Eli Cohen in Ukraine for Meetings with Zelensky; Bilateral Relations Discussed & More Israeli Assistance Expected

Edited by:  Fern Sidman

In an historic trip, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen arrived in Ukraine on Thursday and met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, ahead of an expected meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a report on the Times of Israel web site. The report added that Cohen is the most senior Israeli official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly one year ago.

Cohen’s trip began in Bucha, where hundreds of people were found dead, some with their hands tied, after a Russian withdrawal last year . Ukrainian officials allege that heinous atrocities were committed there. The TOI reported that Cohen laid a wreath at a mass grave of 116 civilians slain by Russians in Bucha, but avoided condemning Russia by name. He also planted a tree at the site, then listened to the Kaddish prayer for the dead by Rabbi Moshe Azman, and the singing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, TOI reported.

“We can say clearly, it is impossible to remain indifferent to the scenes and mass grave that we have seen,” Cohen said, speaking after Bucha’s mayor Anatolii Fedoruk showed him a photo exhibition of the city’s victims inside a gleaming white church, the TOI reported.

“We are here in an important solidarity visit with the Ukrainian people,” he added, as was reported by TOI, in response to a question about whether he would condemn the Russians, adding that Israel would continue to provide humanitarian aid. “Israel, as stated in the past, stands firmly in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and remains committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Cohen said, according to the AP report.

Cohen said Thursday that Israel would provide $200 million in loan guarantees to build hospitals in Ukraine and reiterated an Israeli pledge to give Ukraine a sophisticated air-defense warning system, the AP report added.

The AP reported that Cohen also visited Babi Yar, a ravine in Kyiv where nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in 1941 when the city was under Nazi occupation. The killing was carried out by SS troops along with local collaborators.

Cohen was reminded of the hardships endured by Ukrainians when air raid sirens sounded as he entered the country’s Foreign Ministry.

A day after making a one-day visit to Turkey, Cohen landed in Rzeszów in Poland on Wednesday night, then took an overnight train with his delegation from the Polish border city of Przemysl to Kyiv, as was reported by TOI. Due to security concerns, the visit was kept under wraps until Cohen arrived in Kyiv.

Cohen was also scheduled to attend a ceremony to officially permanently reopen Israel’s embassy in Kyiv, and was expected to meet with members of Kyiv’s Jewish community, TOI reported. The foreign minister is expected to fly back to Israel on Friday morning after another overnight train ride back to Poland.

Cohen said earlier this year that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government “will definitely do one thing: publicly, we will talk less” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but would keep providing Ukraine with humanitarian aid, according to the AP report. Shortly after taking office, he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Israel maintains good working relations with both warring countries, and has large populations of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, as was reported by the AP. Israel also relies on security coordination with Russia over neighboring Syria, where Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in the past decade.

During their meeting on Thursday in war torn Ukraine, the two countries agreed to step up cooperation in a shared struggle against Iran, Israel’s foreign minister announced, as he wrapped up his visit, the AP reported.

The AP reported that Cohen offered few details on what type of cooperation would take place. He also gave no indication that Israel had met a longstanding Ukrainian request to join the U.S. and other Western allies in providing weapons to the Ukrainian military, which had long been a sticking point for Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2021.

Ukrainian officials have not been shy about their frustration, publicly castigating Israel a number of times for not taking a firmer stance and for refusing to send air defense systems to the country, according to the TOI report.

Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy, citing the country’s nuclear program, the AP reported. Israel has noted Iran’s hostile rhetoric as well as its support and funding of such terrorist groups as Hamas and Hezbollah along Israel’s borders for its conclusion of Iran’s position in the region, the AP reported.

Under the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, Israel sought to maintain a largely neutral stance on the war, keeping channels of communication open with both Moscow and Kyiv, the TOI reported.

With Iran now providing attack drones to Russia in the Ukrainian war, Israel could be in a position to assist Ukraine with intelligence on arms shipments and expertise on how to counter the aerial threats, as was reported by the AP.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, Cohen was evasive, the AP reported. “We spoke about deepening cooperation with Ukraine against the Iranian threat in the international arena,” he said.

Ukrainian leaders have talked in the past about some intelligence cooperation with Israel but Cohen refused to answer questions about the topic, the AP reported.

Cohen earlier met with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who said on Twitter afterwards that he was “thankful for all of the support that Israel and Israelis have provided over the past year,” the AP reported. “During our detailed and frank talks, we focused on ways to enhance bilateral relations, increase assistance, and address shared security challenges,” he added.

Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, said that Israel “again assured us that they will bring the early warning system, but they didn’t say when,” according to the AP report.

As other Western nations step up assistance to Ukraine, pressure has built on Israel to share some of its sophisticated military means with Ukraine, including from the U.S.

The AP reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem last month that he had emphasized “the importance of providing support for all of Ukraine’s needs – humanitarian, economic, and security.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised his predecessors’ position as “prudent,” is expected to pursue a similar path, the TOI report said but the visit by his foreign minister, a Likud ally, is a sign that he wants to at least be perceived as moving the dial in Kyiv’s direction.

The TOI also reported that sarlier this month, Netanyahu told CNN he was “looking into” providing Ukraine with “other kinds of aid” besides humanitarian help amid concerns over Israel’s “complex relationship” with Russia and its need to retain “freedom of action” in Syria in its effort to “keep Iran in check.”

He also suggested Israel was helping Ukraine by acting “against Iran’s weapons productions which are used against Ukraine.” The TOI reported that airstrikes attributed to Israel late last month in the Iranian city of Isfahan allegedly targeted Iran’s suicide drone program. The report also indicated that Iran sells advanced kamikaze drones to Russia that are then allegedly used to attack civilian and critical infrastructure in Ukraine.