Ukraine FM apologizes for falsely accusing El Al of accepting ‘blood-soaked’ Russian money

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba apologizes for falsely accusing Israel’s national airline of accepting payments on its website from Russia’s Mir network for international electronic funds, bypassing international sanctions on the country’s banking systems.

“Indeed, the ‘Mir’ payment button remained on the website, but the use of it was blocked. I am grateful to El Al for its important humanitarian operations and convey my apologies,” Kuleba tweets.

Kuleba had said Monday that El Al was making “money soaked in Ukrainian blood” by utilizing the Mir payment system.

The airline said in response that it had stopped accepting Mir payments on February 28 — four days after Russia’s widespread invasion of Ukraine commenced.

While not accepting payments via Mir, El Al is one of the few Western airlines still operating flights to Russia, drawing criticism.

The airline says it is operating flights at the request of the Israeli government and “will continue to get Israelis and Jews out of Russia so long as it is possible.”