Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, meanwhile, approve emergency funding of NIS 180 million ($56.36 million) to the Israel Police.

The Russians had said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and Chernihiv to help negotiations with Ukraine along. Russian President Vladimir Putin warns Europe to pay for gas in rubles or else.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: For many years, the Israel Police has been neglected. We are fixing this and are now allocating significant resources to meet the overarching mission - protecting public safety.

Years ago, Answar Sadat said that Saudi Arabia would be the second Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. That hasn't happened, but many other things have, and they came to fruition in the Negev this week.

"I want to underscore that the Russian armed forces do not strike civilian targets as part of the special military operation," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says.