Anatoly Viktorov, Russia’s ambassador to Israel, has warned that if Israel supplies Ukraine with military weapons and aid during the current battle there, Moscow will respond with retaliatory measures.
On Thursday, Viktorov told Russian state media, “We are attentively checking this information and will reply accordingly if it is proven.”
What such a response may entail was not evident from the Russian envoy’s statements.
The remarks come a day after Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Israel will furnish Ukraine with helmets and flak jackets.
After Tel Aviv denounced Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi last week.
It comes after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned Russia of “war crimes” in Ukraine, claiming that Russia’s military action against its western neighbour had no “justification.”
“Russian military perpetrated war crimes against an unarmed civilian populace.” “I strongly condemn these atrocities,” Lapid stated.
The Israeli government voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution suspending the Russian Federation’s participation in the UN Human Rights Council earlier this month.
The Russian foreign ministry responded to the voting by calling the resolution “illegal and politically motivated.”
It also described Israel’s backing for it as “a thinly veiled attempt to use the crisis in Ukraine in order to shift public attention away from one of the world’s oldest unresolved problems, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
Following Moscow’s recognition of the self-declared Lugansk and Donetsk republics, colloquially known as the Donbass, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24. Ethnic Russians make up the majority of the two breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine.
Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine and on the north coast of the vital Sea of Azov, has seen some of the most intense fighting between the two sides since the start of the Russian military assault.
The collapse of Mariupol, which had been under Russian assault since March 1, allows Moscow to create a land route to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
Approximately 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and fighters remained inside Azovstal, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s assessment. Putin pleaded with them to lay down their weapons and surrender, promising that Russia would treat them with respect, but they refused.
Azovstal is one of Europe’s largest metallurgical plants, stretching 11 square kilometres and housing massive structures, subterranean bunkers, and tunnels.
