Israel offered on Wednesday to help Ukraine develop air attack alerts for civilians, signaling a softening of a policy of non-military intervention in the war after Kyiv appealed for ways to counteract Iranian-made drones used by Russia.
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Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk, however, asked for systems that would shoot down the drones instead, while Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Jerusalem was firm on not supplying Kyiv with weapons.
Though it has condemned the invasion, Israel has limited its Ukraine assistance to humanitarian relief, citing a desire for continued cooperation with Russia over war-ravaged neighbor Syria and to ensure the wellbeing of Russian Jews.
On Tuesday, Ukraine stepped up appeals for Israeli help after reporting multiple Russian strikes using Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. Iran denies supplying drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Iran had also promised to supply Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.
Israel has asked Ukraine "to share information about their needs for air defense alerts," Gantz told EU ambassadors, according to a statement by his office. Then Israel would be able to "assist in the development of a life-saving civilian early-warning system."
Kornichuk told Reuters the system on offer was "not relevant anymore," and confirmed the authenticity of an embassy letter, leaked to Israel's Walla news agency, urgently requesting to buy Iron Beam, Barak-8, Patriot, Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow interceptors from Israel.
In parallel to the interceptors – developed mainly to ward off attacks by Iran or its regional allies – Israel has a radar network that sets off sirens or cellphone alerts to warn citizens to take cover when missiles are launched.
Similar early warning technologies could be on offer to Ukraine, a spokesperson for Israel's Defense Ministry said.
Israel maintains "a policy of supporting Ukraine via humanitarian aids," but would not deliver weapons systems "for operational and regional consideration," Gantz told the EU ambassadors.
The Russian embassy in Israel declined comment.
According to reports, Jerusalem has, however, begun to provide Kyiv with intelligence on the Iranian drones and a private Israeli team is supplying Ukraine with satellite imagery of Russian troop positions.
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