Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight from Sunday to Monday that Jerusalem would be “the right place to find peace” by referring to the negotiations with Russia, which he calls for.
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“Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is trying to find a way for negotiation with Russia and we are grateful to him for that. For all his efforts, so that sooner or later we can start the discussion with Russia. Maybe in Jerusalem. This is the right place to find peace. If possible,” said the head of state in a video posted on Telegram.
Naftali Bennett tried to launch a mediation between Ukraine and Russia, traveling to Moscow to meet Mr. Putin, shortly following the start of the invasion, and multiplying telephone conversations with Mr. Zelensky.
Volodymyr Zelensky also joked regarding the “Russian propagandists” who have “a difficult task”, “because for the first time in history, a president of a foreign nation spoke via video recording in the Knesset and before the whole nation of Israel. The President of Ukraine, who is accused of Nazism in Russia, spoke in the Knesset, in front of the nation of Israel”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Ukraine’s leaders “neo-Nazis” and has put the “denazification” of Ukraine among the objectives of his military offensive launched on February 24.
Mr. Zelensky, himself of Jewish origin, had asked Israel on Sunday to “make a choice” by concretely supporting Ukraine once morest Russia, during a videoconference speech before the deputies of the Israeli Parliament.
According to Israeli media, Bennett has repeatedly rejected Kyiv’s requests for military assistance.
In its quest for balance between the West and Russia, the Jewish state has not joined the train of Western sanctions once morest Russia and oligarchs deemed close to President Putin, some of whom also have the Israeli nationality, like Roman Abramovich, owner of English football club Chelsea.
Israel, however, pledged last week not to allow Moscow and the targeted oligarchs to “bypass” the sanctions and will deploy a clinic in western Ukraine this week.
