Israel–Ukraine relations

Israel–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between Israel and Ukraine. Both countries recognized each other on 11 May 1949 as the Ukrainian SSR and established de jure diplomatic relations on 26 December 1991 when Ukraine became independent. Israel has an embassy in Kyiv. Ukraine has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate-general in Haifa. There are 30,000 Ukrainians settled in Israel, while Ukraine has one of Europe's largest Jewish communities. Ukraine is also the first state, apart from Israel, to have had both a Jewish president and prime minister simultaneously.
Ukraine and Israel have had uneasy relations during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Israel was neutral on Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Israeli government of Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid condemned the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and sent humanitarian aid. The current government of Benjamin Netanyahu also sent aid. However, Israel has refused calls to impose sanctions on Russia or to send missile defense technology to Ukraine. Ukraine has voted for UN resolutions against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
History
When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian SSR, it was one of 33 states that voted for separate Jewish and Arab states in Mandatory Palestine during the UN Partition Plan in 1947. The Soviet Union broke off relations with Israel in 1967 after the Six-Day War and restored diplomatic relations in 1991, when Ukraine became independent.
After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in March 2014, Israel did not vote for a UN resolution condemning the annexation. US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US was "surprised that Israel did not join the vast majority of countries that voted to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity". The Israeli government said it did not vote due to a public workers strike. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later refused to condemn Russia's annexation.
In November 2014, Oleg Vyshniakov, a Ukrainian entrepreneur and public figure, was appointed to Israel's honorary consul in western Ukraine. In May 2015 he was inaugurated as honorary consul of Israel in Lviv.
In December 2016, Ukraine as a non-permanent member of United Nations Security Council voted in favor of resolution 2334, which condemned Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considered the resolution balanced since it also urged the Palestinian side to combat terrorism. Ukraine's foreign ministry likened Israel's settlement of the West Bank to the Russian occupation of Crimea. In reaction, Israel cancelled a planned visit of the Ukrainian prime minister.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
In February 2022, during the buildup to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel accused Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid of repeating "Russian propaganda". The Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian Ambassador for an official reprimand.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Israeli Foreign Minister Lapid and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed support for Ukraine, although Bennett did not condemn Russia. He offered humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians and help to Jews who wanted to leave Ukraine. Israel's foreign ministry stated that it respected Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, but did not mention Russia.
On February 25, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett mediate in the war with Russia, according to the Ukrainian envoy to Israel. On 5 March, Prime Minister Bennett flew to Moscow and held a three-hour meeting with Putin about the war in Ukraine, after which Bennett spoke to Zelenskyy by phone. At the Kremlin, Bennett also raised the issue of the Jewish community caught up in the invasion. An unnamed senior Ukrainian official accused Bennett of having "proposed that we surrender", claiming Bennett urged Zelenskyy to "take the offer" of a "peace deal" from Putin. This report was denied by the Israeli Prime Minister's office and a senior adviser to Zelenskyy.
Israel declined to co-sponsor a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Russian invasion; the United States expressed disappointment. Israel later voted in favour of the resolution condemning the invasion.
On March 11, 2022, Ukraine's ambassador urged Israel to impose sanctions on Russia, take more Ukrainian refugees, and supply defensive weapons. In a speech to Ukraine's parliament on March 20, President Zelenskyy chastised Israel, asking why it was not sending Ukraine missile defenses or condemning Russia for its invasion. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid replied that Israel would help Ukraine's people "as much as we can" by continuing to send humanitarian aid. On July 3, Israel lifted its restrictions on the numbers of Ukrainian refugees it would take. Ukraine's president Zelenskyy welcomed the decision. An estimated 15,000 Ukrainian refugees had fled to Israel.
In October 2022, after a wave of Russian missile strikes, Ukraine's president Zelenskyy lambasted Israel for refusing to supply missile defenses. Shortly after, however, he said that relations with Israel were improving as they had begun sharing intelligence about the Iranian drones being used by Russia.
In November 2022, Ukraine supported a UN resolution that asked the International Court of Justice to investigate Israel's "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory". In response, Israel summoned and admonished the Ukrainian ambassador. Then, in "an apparent act of retaliation", Israel did not support a UN resolution calling on Russia to pay reparations for invading Ukraine.
In May 2023, an Israeli-made missile alert system began operating in Kyiv. Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, credited Netanyahu's personal involvement in this process. However, Israel refuses to supply Ukraine with missile defenses. Israel has noted the danger posed by Russians capturing an Iron Dome system, which could result in Iran gaining access to it and reverse-engineering the weapons.
Hamas attack on Israel
Despite the tense Ukraine-Israel relations, when Hamas invaded Israel in October 2023, President Zelenskyy offered condolences for the hundreds of civilian deaths and expressed solidarity with Israelis. Al Arabiya noted that Ukraine has been seeking Israeli air defense expertise to stop Russian missiles.
Economic relations
In 2012, the bilateral trade turnover between the countries was 1.3 billion dollars, a growth of 49.1% in comparison to 2011. The total export of Ukraine was 922.5 million dollars (796.4 in products and 126.1 in services). The import reached the amount of 364.2 million dollars (266.8 in goods and 97.4 in services). The main exports from Ukraine to Israel in 2012 were: grain (50.6%), non-precious metal (18.2%), aircraft (6.9%), food industry byproducts (5.8%), oil seeds and oleaginous fruits (3.3%), fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin (1.5%), electrical machinery (1.2%), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery (1.1%). The main Israeli imports to Ukraine in 2012 were: mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation (42.4%), various chemical products (9.0%), plastics (7.0%), goods purchased in ports (5.5%), pharmaceutical products (4.8%), electrical machinery (4.4%), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery (4.1%), fruits and nuts (3.1%), optical: photographic equipment (2.2%), soap: organic surface-active substances (1.9%), synthetic or artificial (1.7%), vegetables (1.6%), essential oils (1.5%).
Israel Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy operates an Economic & Trade Mission in Kyiv. Its main goal is the promotion of trade and export by assisting Israeli industry expanding in the Ukrainian market, supporting individual exporters in marketing activity in Ukraine, attracting investment and expansion of strategic cooperation with Ukraine, improving knowledge of the Ukrainian business of Israeli industry and economy and helping in solving problems arising for Israeli companies operating in Ukraine. The economic attaché in Ukraine is Elizabeth Solovyov. Israel's honorary consul in western Ukraine, Oleg Vyshniakov, established an inter-ministerial committee for Ukrainian-Israeli trade and economic cooperation, as well as an economic business forum, which launched in November 2015 in Kyiv. Leading developers in the fields of Industry and Trade in Ukraine and Israel are taking part of this program.
Ukraine has been Israel's main wheat supplier for many years, accounting for almost half of the country's wheat consumption. As of 2022, Israel imports corn and corn products, barley, rapeseed and soybeans. Agricultural exports to Israel exceed $400 million a year.
Travel and tourism
In July 2010 the foreign ministers of two countries signed an agreement of non visa traffic between Israel and Ukraine. This came into effect on 9 February 2011 and since then Ukrainians and Israelis may enter territory, travel through or stay on Ukraine or Israel without having to obtain visas for 90 days within a period of 180 days. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated in September 2016 that this visa-free regime had increased tourist flow between two countries tenfold.
In May 2015, two direct Lviv-Tel Aviv-Lviv flights a week were initiated, operated by Ukraine International Airlines.
Ukraine is an important destination for Jewish tourism, as many Jewish saints are buried there. Each year, on Rosh HaShanah, more than 40,000 Jewish tourists come to the city of Uman, in what is known as the Rosh Hashana kibbutz, this being a large source of revenue for the city.
Ukraine is associated with the Holocaust as the site of Babi Yar. A special tourism program for Jews and Israelis was developed in cooperation with the Lviv Municipality and the District Administration, includes visits to Jewish memorial sites and architecture, operated by Hebrew speaking tourist guides.
Expatriate communities
Ukraine has one of the world's largest Jewish communities; estimates of its size vary widely, from at least 70,000 individuals up to 400,000 individuals.
State visits
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko paid a state visit to Israel on 22 December 2015, where he met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and addressed the Knesset. Rivlin visited Ukraine in September 2016.
In 2021, Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid a state visit to Ukraine. During the visit, Herzog, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv Jonathan Markovitch attended the inauguration of a memorial to victims of Babyn Yar on the 80th anniversary of the Nazi massacre of 33,000 Jews in a ravine near Kyiv in September 1941.
Notable incidents
Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 – Ukrainian accidental attack on a civilian plane from Tel Aviv
Dirar Abu Seesi abduction
See also
Foreign relations of Israel
Foreign relations of Ukraine
History of the Jews in Ukraine
List of Ukrainian Jews
Israel–Russia relations
References
External links
Israeli embassy in Kyiv
Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv (new version of the website)
Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv (old version of the website)
Website of the Israeli honorary consulate in the Western Ukraine
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers budget increasing possibility on humanitarian projects for Ukraine. in Interfax-Ukraine, 3 November 2015
Latysh, Yurii. Israel and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine
Bilateral relations of Ukraine