Russia-Ukraine war: Israeli lawmaker calls on country to provide military assistance to Kyiv

An Israeli lawmaker who is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has now urged the country to start providing Ukraine with military assistance as the war nears its first anniversary. The lawmaker cited Israel’s adversary Iran as another reason why the country must help Ukraine militarily.

Israeli lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, who leads the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Israel must now help Ukraine militarily following a visit to Kyiv with opposition lawmaker Zeev Elkin and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Following the meeting with Zelenskyy, Edelstein said Israel must not “sit on the fence” anymore.

In a joint statement, Edelstein and Elkin called on the Netanyahu government to increase support for Ukraine, saying that the humanitarian assistance the country has provided so far was no longer enough.

“We must assist Ukraine in all realms where Israeli technology – including military – is capable of helping protect the civilian population, its liberty, and its independence,” said Edelstein and Elkin in the statement. The two lawmakers also cited Iran’s involvement in the way by supplying Moscow with drones for what they called “the Russian military’s terrorism against the civilian population of Ukrainian cities.”

Israel has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but has stopped short of increasing its assistance outside of humanitarian relief and protective gear.

The call by the lawmakers follows the visit of Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen to Kyiv, pledging continued assistance to Ukraine, including improvements in Ukraine’s air defense early warning system.

Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin accused Russia’s top military leadership of committing treason after he alleged that they withheld the ammunition needed to fight on the ground in Ukraine and that they did not provide air support. This comes as the Wagner group has led the fighting taking place in Bakhmut in the eastern Ukrainian territory of Donetsk.

“There is simply direct opposition going on…This can be equated to high treason,” said Prigozhin in a voice message on the Telegram messaging platform on Tuesday. “The chief of the general staff and the defense minister are giving orders right and left, not just not to give Wagner PMC ammunition but not to help it with air transport.”