Prime Minister Netanyahu met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the beginning of the war in New York “on the sidelines” of the UN General Assembly session. Netanyahu’s office said the meeting was “friendly,” and he promised to continue helping Ukraine with humanitarian issues, “as well as protection against anti-personnel mines.”
Zelensky wrote after the meeting that he and Netanyahu “share concerns” regarding Russian-Iranian military cooperation. The President of Ukraine also said that he informed Netanyahu about the strikes on Ukrainian cities by Russia using Iranian drones. President Zelensky published in the official Telegram channel short video report about his today’s meetings at the UN “with the leaders of South Africa, Kenya, Israel, the head of the European Council and the UN Secretary General”.
Correspondent of Israel Hayom, Ariel Kahane, reported a spicy behind-the-scenes detail – Netanyahu’s assistants brought to the meeting an old map of the world on which Ukraine was a part of the USSR, and embarrassment was avoided at the last moment. Journalists also reported that after the group meeting, the leaders had an “unscheduled” face-to-face conversation and “found a common language.”
This was Netanyahu’s second personal meeting with Zelenskyi, the leaders met in 2019 during Netanyahu’s visit to Kyiv. At that time, the Ukrainian mass media widely covered the visit and even called it “historical” but even then it was not without embarrassment – Sarah Netanyahu threw a piece of traditional bread on the ground, presented to the couple at the airport by girls in national costumes.
On the same day, Netanyahu held meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. After the meeting with Erdogan, the Prime Minister wrote that “relations between the countries are strengthening.”
