Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday addressed the challenges of juggling between maintaining Israel's security interests and being on the right side of history when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, saying that he does not rule out providing military aid to the war-ravaged country in the future.
In an interview with Ynet's Russian-language sister outlet Vesty, the premier said that Israel "stands with the West" in supporting Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a war with Russia since February.
"Israel chose a side from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, , may no one doubt that," said Lapid.
"We support Ukraine in every way," he continued. "Israel is the only country that opened a field hospital there, we continue to send humanitarian aid all the time.
"On the other hand, as prime minister I must take into consideration the strategic interests of the State of Israel. This combination - maintaining the security interests of Israel and being on the right side of history - is a very complicated one, but we have to take everything into consideration.
"We carry out situational assessments every week and examine what more we can help with."
3 View gallery
Iranian drone used by the Russian military to bomb Ukrainian cities, shot down by Ukraine's military
(Photo: Reuters)
Lapid added that Israel is very "concerned" by Iran's alleged involvement in the war and the strengthening of relations between Russia and Iranians.
In response to remarks on Kyiv's dissatisfaction with Israel's alleged lack of support throughout the war, Lapid said that he "can understand" it.
"They are managing a difficult and bloody war. They are losing civilians and more and more mass graves are constantly being discovered there. They are in massive distress, and sometimes it comes off as them being angry with their friends."
Lapid added, however, that Ukraine must be "angry with those who deserve it, and not with those those who are trying to help, even if you think they aren't helping enough."
"Every country is considering its own national security aspects. The matter of the fact is that we do not see the British Air Force bombing Russian forces."
On the disputed matter of Israel's recent announcement that it would not supply Ukraine with military equipment, Lapid said he "is not ruling out this option," adding that Israel's relations with Moscow - and the rest of the world - have taken a drastic turn.
Lapid emphasized, however, that out of all Ukrainian allies, only Israel has a border with a Russian proxy - Syria. "That's what I meant when I said we have an interest of national security. But, Russia's relations with the Western world have changed, and not for the better. This is why we need to do everything so that this war ends and the situation doesn't escalate."