Brodskiy explained why Israel is not providing military assistance to Ukraine.

Israel is not providing military assistance to Ukraine because it does not want to jeopardize its relations with Russia. This was stated by Israel's ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, in an interview with Radio Liberty.

In response to the question of why it is important for Israel to maintain neutrality regarding military assistance to Ukraine, and why it does not see the need to take sides, he noted that Israel's position is not one of neutrality.

“We support Ukraine, we condemn the war, we condemn Russia’s aggression. We condemn it publicly, we condemn it in the UN, so there can be no talk of neutrality,” he said.

“As for military support for Ukraine – yes, Israel is not providing military support to Ukraine. For various reasons, the main consideration is the unwillingness to disrupt our contacts with Russia, the reluctance to put our security at risk, as we understand that this could lead to very serious consequences for Israel's security,” the ambassador stated.

He also added that the intelligence agencies of both countries continue to cooperate.

“We have communication channels with Ukraine, we discuss various issues, including communication channels between intelligence services. Very sensitive matters are discussed there, which are very important for both countries. I think that it is generally unnecessary to discuss them in the press,” he added.

He also reminded that Israel has provided Ukraine with components for an early warning system.

“What Ukraine has done with the technologies that were transferred, I honestly do not know; they were supposed to be integrated into the overall warning system for the citizens of Ukraine. That is a question for the Ukrainian authorities.”

Brodsky explained that Israel and Russia have “complicated relations.”

“After October 7, within a few days, the leadership of Hamas was invited to Moscow. This, of course, could not please us. We stated openly that we consider this indirect support for terrorism.”

At the same time, the Israeli ambassador believes that Russia's role in the Middle East is too significant to be ignored.

“Unfortunately, Russia almost always votes against Israel in the UN. However, Russia is an influential country in the Middle East, even if its influence in Syria is decreasing today, it does not mean that Russia has completely lost its leverage in the Middle East – this has been Russia's historical role since the times of the Soviet Union, so we cannot disregard it when building our relations with Russia,” Brodsky said.

“The second issue that is important for us in relations with Russia is the Jewish community in Russia, which is very numerous. And as a state that receives Jews and cares for Jews in various countries, we cannot allow any harm to befall this community. These are the two main points from which we proceed in formulating our policy regarding the Russian Federation,” the Israeli ambassador noted.

Background. Recall that Brodsky stated that Israel will not transfer Russian weapons captured by the IDF in Lebanon to Ukraine. According to the ambassador, this was merely a private legislative initiative that did not progress in parliament.