A senior Ukrainian official has accused Israeli ministers of corruption, which they alleged was influencing Jerusalem's policies on the war with Russia.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
In a conversation with Israel Hayom, the Ukrainian official said: "Unlike the Israeli government, Western governments understood they must support Ukraine. We were surprised and saddened by the Israeli government. Some of its ministers do business with Russia, and we understood that this is a corrupt government, like the Eastern European governments were in the past.
The Ukrainian official said he was concerned by a possible scenario that would provide the Russians with a pretext for using nuclear weapons.
"According to the Russian constitution, an attack on Russian territory justifies the use of nuclear weapons. Russia annexed Crimea, and therefore, a Ukrainian attack there could lead to this. We may have carried out limited attacks on targets inside Russian territory, but the Russians ensured no word of this would appear in their media," he said.
As for the current state of the war, the Ukrainian official said, "At the start of the war, we didn't lose a lot of soldiers thanks to the wise tactics of our military commanders. Now, the fighting has changed, among other things due to the Russian's increased use of artillery. Nevertheless, I believe the Ukrainian military will have the ability to restore the territories we lost. Unlike Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk have not been officially annexed by Russia, and therefore there is less of a threat of Moscow using nuclear weapons for these regions.
"The Russians' big mistake was that they assumed there would be no significant Ukrainian opposition. Another mistake was the adherence to the assumption that the command at headquarters knew how to make better decisions than the command on the ground. Their third mistake was that they assumed the Ukrainians were not a real nation, but part of the Russian world. They were wrong. Even in eastern Ukraine, this perception has not proven itself to be true. This is the moment in which we recreate the nation and the Ukrainian state."
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said: "We do not respond to anonymous claims."
In a forest somewhere in western Ukraine, meanwhile, Israeli reserve officers have been busy training Ukrainian civilians to fight. The Israelis are there of their own volition. This is no government effort but rather the result of private initiatives. A majority of the reserve officers are there voluntarily, out of a belief in the Ukrainian fight.
A., formerly a senior commander in an elite IDF unit, told said, "The progress they've made is just amazing. In a few months, and sometimes less, they've succeeded in establishing military units at a high level worthy of a professional army.
"I went through a five-month training program here," Natalia (not her real name), a high-school principal said. "Every volunteer can choose which program to join – from two days of basic training to advanced 18-day training.
The fighters, a majority of whom had never held a gun up until a few days ago, are assigned to regional defense units that are supposed to fight the Russian military if and when it arrives. Having said that, some of the volunteers are already leaving for the active fronts in the east and south.
"Up until a few months ago, I worked as a manager at a high-tech firm where I was a partner, Miguel (not his real name), a 29-year-old software engineer from Lvov said. "The fear," he said, "is that the war will continue, and my American partners will lose patience with me."
A Ukrainian official overseeing the country's push to join the European Union said Wednesday that she's "100%" certain all 27 EU nations will approve Ukraine's EU candidacy during a summit this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed similar optimism, calling it a "crucial moment" for Ukraine. Ukraine's membership bid is the top order of business for EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said the decision could come as soon as Thursday when the leaders' summit starts.
Stefanishyna said the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark had been skeptical about starting accession talks with Ukraine while it is fighting Russia's invasion but are now supportive. Asked how confident she was that Ukraine would be accepted as an EU candidate, she said: "The day before the summit starts, I can say 100%."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
