Ukraine considers Jerusalem one of the “priority” places for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin

The Kiev authorities welcomed the mediation of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and said they were impressed by how deeply aware of the situation Israeli officials are

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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a weekly cabinet meeting, in Jerusalem, March 14, 2022. Jack Guez/Pool via REUTERS

The head of the presidential cabinet of Ukraine, Andrei Yermak, said that he considers the city of Jerusalem as one of the “priority” places for a forthcoming meeting between Ukraine and Russia in the framework of the peace talks between the two nations.

“We also consider Jerusalem to be one of the priority locations for the future meeting of Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Yermak said during a conversation with Israeli media.

In this regard, he welcomed the mediation of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has spoken with the Ukrainian president again, and said that the country could be a guarantor of Ukrainian security, as reported by the Israeli newspaper 'The Times of Israel'.

Speaking to Israeli journalists via Zoom, Yermak asserted that Ukrainian officials “are impressed by how deeply aware of the situation Israeli officials and Prime Minister Bennett, in particular, are.

Andrei Yermak Ukraine
The head of the presidential cabinet of Ukraine, Andrei Yermak

According to Yermak, Ukraine hopes that Israel can be one of the guarantors of a new security agreement for the country. “This would be historic and fair, because we have very close ties with Israel,” he said, as stated by the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform.

Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky asked Israel on March 20 to abandon its neutrality and support Ukraine to avoid a “final solution”, a “genocide” of Russian forces attacking his country, and thus compared the attack to the Holocaust.

Bennett traveled to Moscow in early March, and became the first foreign leader to meet Putin in person since the invasion began on February 24.

This Thursday, the UN General Assembly again called for the “immediate cessation” of Russia's hostilities in Ukraine, as well as “all attacks on civilians and civilian targets”, in the second resolution in less than a month, which is not binding.

With 140 votes in favor, 5 against (Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea and Belarus) and 38 abstentions, the international community overwhelmingly approved this new resolution submitted by Ukraine, and promoted by Mexico and France, on the “humanitarian consequences of Russian aggression”, which in less than a month caused the displacement of 10 million people, 3.5 million of them refugees abroad, half children.

Through his spokesman, UN Secretary General António Guterres stressed the importance of members of the organization adopting a humanitarian resolution, but above all that they do so by showing unity.

This result shows that the international community's rejection of Russia's invasion of Ukrainian territory is almost similar to that demonstrated last March 2, when the resolution was adopted that “deplored” Russian aggression and called for its immediate cessation.

(With information from Europa Press)

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