In a situation assessment held by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday night regarding the escalation between Russia and Ukraine, it was decided that Israel will continue to help its citizens evacuate from Ukraine, and to send humanitarian aid to the country as well.
Participating in the discussion were the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister, the National Security Adviser and Director of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister’s Office Director General, the Foreign Ministry Director General and the Finance Ministry Director General as well as representatives from the IDF, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and National Information Directorate.
The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — carefully referred to in the government’s communique as “the crisis” were reviewed in their diplomatic, economic and security aspects.
“The political echelon agreed on the main points of the [following] directive on Israel’s conduct during the crisis,” the prime minister’s office said.
- Continuation of efforts to evacuate Israelis from the area
- Aid to the Jewish community in Ukraine and preparations to receive olim
- Preparations to render humanitarian assistance as necessary
- Continued regular discussions and assessments of the situation to evaluate future consequences (to the extent that there any) for Israel.
Barely 4,000 of the estimated 12,000 Israeli citizens living in Ukraine left the country when urged to do so by the Israeli government.
Within an hour of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement formally recognizing Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent sovereign republics, Israeli diplomats completed the evacuation of the Embassy in Kiev and had moved all operations to the city of Levov, near the border with Poland.
Consular operations are continuing in Levov at this time, in addition to Israeli diplomatic personnel being deployed to Ukraine’s border crossings with friendly countries to the west.
