From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Former Ukraine PM thanks Israel for ‘formally declaring’ support, which it hasn’t
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Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13, thanks Israel and Prime Minister Bennett for mediation efforts between Ukraine and Russia.
“We thank your country and your prime minister… for putting yourselves forward as peacemakers. I very much want to believe in this. But at the same time, I am certain that Putin will not stop. He will go on to the end. He wants to win, and take military control of Ukraine, but I can tell you that he won’t achieve this. Ukraine will fight so that victory is ours,” Tymoshenko says.
She says, “I thank Israel for formally declaring today that it stands with Ukraine.”
Israel has not yet made such a formal declaration, however. Tymoshenko appears to be referring to comments yesterday from Foreign Minister Lapid, who said Israel “condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and calls for an end to the fighting.”
“There is no justification for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and there is no justification for attacks on a civilian population,” Lapid said. “Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries.”
Bennett has refrained from taking a side in the conflict, however.
Tymoshenko says, “Today is really a turning point. Today your foreign minister said clearly that Israel will not be a country that allows the aggressor state to evade the sanctions. Nobody can stand in opposition [to Ukraine’s cause]. You have to be without a conscience, heartless and soulless, devoid of any human emotion to see what is happening in Ukraine and not to stand with it.”
Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s only female prime minister, quotes Israel’s only female prime minister, Ukraine-born Golda Meir.
“Regarding negotiations, I want to quote Golda Meir, who was your prime minister and was born in Kyiv. She said, ‘If the enemy lays down his weapons, there will be peace. If we lay down our weapons, there’ll be war.’ We will not lay down our weapons. We will continue to fight. We’ll continue to defend our country. And if peace talks can contribute, and stop the bloodshed, we will rejoice. But we will permit any limitations and any compromises that threaten our independence and territorial integrity.”
“I thank you very much [in Israel] for defending Ukraine,” she says.
Tymoshenko currently serves as a Deputy of Ukraine. She had extensive dealings with Russian President Putin while she was prime minister in 2005, and from 2007-2010.
The Times of Israel Community.