Ukraine calls on Israel for anti-UAV weapons; EU praises Kiev's progress on accession path but warns more work remains

Andriy Yermak, Chief of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that "no one but Israel can provide equipment to counter attacks by Iranian drones".

Andriy Yermak, chánh văn phòng của Tổng thống Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (Văn phòng lịch sự của Tổng thống Ukraine). (Nguồn: Timesofisrael)

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of the President of Ukraine. (Source: Timesofisrael)

However, he declined The Times of Israel 's request to elaborate on the specific technology Israel requested.

On June 22, Mr. Yermak expressed disappointment that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not publicly support Ukraine, even though the Jewish state has interests in participating in the fight against Iranian UAVs. He said that now is the time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Ukraine, to show solidarity and support for the people of this Eastern European country.

Although both Russia and Iran have denied it, Kiev and the West have repeatedly accused Tehran of supplying large numbers of attack UAVs for Moscow to use in the conflict in Ukraine. To date, Israel has maintained a policy of only providing humanitarian aid to Kiev, instead of military aid as called for by the US and Ukraine.

Israel recently assisted Ukraine in installing a missile attack warning system, but declined to comment on the possibility of arranging for Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Kiev. Israel has always avoided statements or actions that could negatively affect its relationship with Russia.

Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid were among the first to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine. “I think it is not enough to maintain dialogue between government officials,” Yermak said. “I think it is possible to take these relations to a higher level.”

Also on June 22, the European Commission (EC) said that Ukraine is making progress in political reforms to pave the way for negotiations to join the European Union (EU), but still needs to try harder to make progress in five other important areas.

The European Commission's assessment gives Ukraine hope that it can meet its goal of holding EU accession talks by December, even as the Eastern European country is in a state of conflict. However, the EU also made it clear that Ukraine still has to complete a seven-step roadmap it outlined last year when it awarded Kiev candidate status.

Oliver Varhelyi, the EU's European Commissioner for Neighborhood Relations, said Ukraine was on the right track and working hard even while the country was in conflict. In an update to EU member states, Varhelyi concluded that Ukraine had completed two of the seven steps: reforming two judiciary bodies and adopting a media law in line with EU standards.

However, he also said that Kiev still has a lot of work to do regarding the constitutional court reform program, preventing and fighting corruption, money laundering and limiting the influence of oligarchs as well as policies on the treatment of minorities.

In addition, the EU official stressed that the EC will consider more factors in the full report to be published next October on Ukraine's suitability for accession talks with the bloc.

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