The Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgeny Kornichuk for a reprimand Thursday after the diplomat criticized Yair Lapid's remarks regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a statement posted on Facebook.
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On Wednesday, Lapid told Axios, "At the moment, the [Israeli] assessment is that we don't see a violent confrontation soon. I also don't think a world war is about to start there. We are concerned that this is taking away [the United States'] attention from the nuclear talks in Vienna."
In return, Kornichuk wrote he was "deeply appalled by the recent remarks of Mr. Lapid regarding his vision of the 'Russia-Ukraine conflict.' I would like to remind Mr. Minister that it is not a conflict – it is a WAR that Russia aggressively and cynically conducts against Ukraine. It is a shame that Mr. Lapid has not noticed that there is a war in the center of Europe which has lasted for eight years already.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Minister reiterates the Russian propaganda rhetoric and ignores the disturbing messages from his own strongest allies – United States, Britain and European Union – regarding the high possibility of full scale Russian military invasion into Ukraine within the next three weeks.
Kornichuk added, "If a full-scale war breaks out in Europe, Israel will be left face-to-face with the Iranian threat. I suggest Mr. Lapid have a phone conversation not only with the foreign affairs minister of the aggressor state but also communicate with the Ukrainian side, to see the real picture instead of using Russian clichés.
"I also suggest to our Israeli friends to accept the invitation of our president [Volodymyr Zelensky] and visit Kyiv, which would be very important for our country. Our American, British and European associates have already done that."
A senior official in Kyiv told Israel Hayom that the ambassador's remarks reflect the Ukrainian government's stance and expressed disappointment at the side Israel has decided to take.
"We are in a very difficult situation in Ukraine. There are no games here. We understand Israel's need to maintain neutrality, but at the same time, we need allies. If Israeli officials maintained neutrality, we would say nothing, but the minister's [Lapid's] words were one-sided, and we had to respond."
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