Israel And Ukraine Denied Reports That Bennett Recommended To Give In To Russian Demands

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, March 6, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

LVIV, Ukraine, March 12 – A senior Ukrainian adviser and an Israeli official on Saturday spoke out against media reports that Israel was trying to push Ukraine into yielding to Russian demands during negotiations.

Israel has made diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A report by the Israeli Walla News, the Jerusalem Post and the US news site Axios, citing an unidentified Ukrainian official, suggested that Bennett was urging Ukraine to cede to Russia.

Israel, “like other conditional mediating countries, does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian adviser Mikhail Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “This is impossible for military-political reasons. On the contrary, Israel calls on Russia to assess events more adequately.”

A senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, called the report “knowingly false.”

“Prime Minister Bennett never advised President Zelensky to make a deal with Putin because no such deal was offered to Israel so we could do it,” the official said.

“Bennett has never told Zelensky how to proceed and is not going to do it.”

Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Matthias Williams and Dan Williams Editing by Mark Potter

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