Ukrainian advisor: "Israel" chose to be on the wrong side of history

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The senior advisor to the Ukrainian President, Mikhail Podolyak, slammed on Thursday the Israeli decision not to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, according to Israeli Media. 

Podolyak noted his disappointment, and with it Ukraine's disappointment, in the Israeli decision as he told reporters that "Israel chose to be on the wrong side of history," adding that it "causes great disappointment in Ukrainian society."

Furthermore, he insisted that "'Israel' seems to have abandoned the desire to be on the right side of history," and even cautioned that "the conduct will significantly complicate the relations between our countries for decades to come."

Existential threats did not unite us, nor did democratic values

Further complaining about the Israeli refusal to supply Ukraine with weapons at a time of high Iranian-Russian cooperation, the Ukrainian presidential advisor designated both Ukraine and "Israel" as existentially-threatened entities.

Podolyak said, "We do not know what the military partnership between Russia and Iran will lead to in the future and what technologies, including nuclear, Moscow can share with Tehran, but we can say with confidence that the results of their cooperation will be felt not only by Kiev, but also by Jerusalem." 

He further described "Israel" and Ukraine as both being in an existential threat, claiming: "The fact that autocracies like Russia and Iran show much more effective military cooperation than two democracies ["Israel" and Ukraine] that are in a state of existential threat should cause us all great sorrow."

Read more: 'Israel' provides Ukraine with intel on Iranian drones, not Iron Dome

Israeli fear of the consequences of supplying Kiev with weapons

The security and military establishment fears, according to Haaretz, that providing Ukraine with air defense systems will lead to the downing of Russian planes and the killing of pilots, which will prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to point the finger at "Israel."

According to Haaretz, the security and military officials claimed that "there’s no scenario" that would drive "Israel" to supply Kiev with the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which it considered to be a "strategically important" weapon for its security. That is because such an action would come at "the expense of its own aerial defense," according to the officials.

Furthermore, Israeli security sources stated that the Iron Dome isn’t suited to Ukraine’s needs, security officials say. This is due both to the country’s vast territory – Iron Dome is designed for comparatively short-range interception – and the fact that Ukrainian airspace, unlike Israeli airspace, is controlled by the enemy."

On October 17, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev warned "Israel" against providing weapons to Ukraine, stressing that any move to boost Kiev's arsenal will severely damage bilateral relations. 

"Israel appears to be getting ready to supply weapons to the Kiev regime. A very reckless move. It would destroy all bilateral relations between our countries," Medvedev said on Telegram. 

Israeli Iron Dome futile against Russian missiles: Ukraine defense

The discussion regarding the Iron Dome has been ongoing for several months and it appears that neither Ukraine nor "Israel" could make up their mind.

Ukraine doesn't need the Israeli Iron Dome system, the country's Defense Minister said in July, contradicting previous comments by Kiev's Ambassador to "Israel".

Ukrainian Ambassador to "Israel" Yevgen Korniychuk stated in June that Kiev wishes to purchase "Israel's" Iron Dome air security system. "We need Israeli assistance... I mean military-technical support; we need Iron Dome... that will allow us to save our civilian women and children from Russian missile shelling on our territory," he said at the time.

In July, though, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told a Forbes summit that the Iron Dome would not be suitable for Ukraine.

Read more: 'Israel' lost military strength, faces existential threat: Res. Gen.