Israel offered on Wednesday (October 19) to help Ukrainians develop air attack alerts for civilians, signalling a softening of a policy of non-military intervention in the war after Kyiv appealed for ways to counteract Iranian-made drones being used by Russia.
Ukraine’s ambassador, however, asked for systems that would shoot down the drones instead, while Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Israel was firm on not supplying Kyiv with weapons.
Though it has condemned the Russian invasion, Israel has limited its Ukraine assistance to humanitarian relief, citing a desire for continued cooperation with Moscow over war-ravaged neighbour Syria and to ensure the wellbeing of Russia’s Jews.
