JERUSALEM- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested on Saturday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war could be held in Jerusalem.
Zelensky spoke at a special briefing for reporters from Kyiv, under heavy “We generally support mediation by anyone,” he said in an answer to a question about Israel’s potential role, posed by a reporter for Haaretz. “But I wouldn’t call Prime Minister Bennett ‘anyone.’ You can play an important role because Israel is a country with a rich history.”
Zelensky added that Ukrainian immigrants were among Israel’s founders, “who brought with them their history and their desire to build a great country, as it is now. So it’s not bad at all for us to have such mediation.”
He said he told Bennett he did not believe negotiations could take place in Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus.
“These are not places where we can come to any understandings on ending the war — I’m not talking about technical meetings but meetings between leaders. I believe Israel can be such a place, especially Jerusalem. I think so, and I said this to Bennett.”
Channel 12 cited unnamed Israeli government sources as saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering the proposal but “it’s premature to assess its chances.”
Zelensky said his government assessed that some 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed in the fighting so far. He insisted that Russian losses were far higher.
He also said Russia “will conquer Kyiv only if they kill all of us. They’ll need to live in a world without us. They won’t find friends among Ukrainians.”
Speaking to Channel 12 news, Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky, who is temporarily back in Israel, said of Zelensky’s remarks: “The idea to hold a summit in Jerusalem has also been raised before. If it can contribute, I think we of course must agree and take the idea forward.
Brodsky added: “The question is not really where but what. If we get to the ‘what,’ then of course there can be a meeting in Jerusalem. There can be a meeting anywhere, but Jerusalem has symbolic significance, and I think President Zelensky is referring precisely to that significance.”
Asked how the city was significant in this context, Brodsky said: “As a city of all the faiths. A city where individuals and people of different faiths live in coexistence. A city that is equally important for Ukrainians and Russians.”
Earlier in the day, a top adviser to Zelensky denied a report that Israel had pushed the Ukrainian leader to accept an offer from Putin that would see Kyiv make significant concessions to end Russia’s invasion.
Mikhail Podolyak tweeted that Bennett did not urge Ukraine to agree to the Russian demands, as was reported Friday by two Hebrew-language outlets.
Bennett, Podolyak wrote, “just as other conditional intermediary countries, does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation.
“This is impossible for military & political reasons,” he added.
Podolyak said that Israel has urged Russia “to assess the events more adequately.”
Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine, with Bennett traveling to Moscow last Saturday for an hours-long meeting with Putin. He was the first foreign leader to sit down with the Russian president since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Source: THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
