KYIV
\nIsrael\u2019s foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the first public visit to Ukraine\u2019s capital by a senior Israeli official since Russia\u2019s invasion last year.
\nEli Cohen\u2019s visit came just before the first anniversary of Russian\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and as western nations seek to increase aid to the country.
\nSince the outbreak of the war, Israel has walked a tightrope between assisting Ukraine and avoiding friction with Russia, with which it has strategic regional interests. Unlike other western countries, Israel has not imposed sanctions on Russia or Russian officials, shared intelligence or provided Ukraine with weapons. It has provided humanitarian support to Ukraine, including a field hospital.
\nCohen was set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as senior Ukrainian officials and leaders of the country\u2019s Jewish community as part of the brief trip.
\nIt was unclear whether Cohen would announce greater assistance to Ukraine during his lightning visit or whether the visit signifies greater Israeli engagement going forward.
\nCohen said earlier this year that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government \u201cwill definitely do one thing: publicly, we will talk less\u201d about Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, but would keep providing Ukraine with humanitarian aid. Shortly after taking office, he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
\nIsrael maintains good working relations with both warring countries, and has large populations of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. 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.
\nAs 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 US
\nSecretary of State Antony Blinken said following a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem last month that he had emphasized \u201cthe importance of providing support for all of Ukraine\u2019s needs \u2013 humanitarian, economic, and security.\u201d
\nYossi Shain, a former member of the Knesset\u2019s foreign affairs and defense committee, said Israel\u2019s ultranationalist government \u2014 which has butted heads with the Biden administration on the issue of West Bank settlements \u2014 may try to gain Washington\u2019s favor by providing defensive capabilities to Ukraine, while \u201cnot crossing certain lines that will endanger its lesser involvement because of the threats of Russia\u201d in neighboring Syria.
\nLast year, Israel\u2019s former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, attempted briefly to mediate between the sides, flying to Moscow shortly after Russia\u2019s invasion and meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Bennett said an interview earlier this month that Putin assured him at the time that Russia would not kill Zelensky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Israel\u2019s foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the first public visit to Ukraine\u2019s capital by a senior Israeli official since Russia\u2019s invasion last year. Eli Cohen\u2019s visit came just before the first anniversary of Russian\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and as western nations seek to increase aid to the country. Since the outbreak of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-314191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n