Israel Turns to Ukraine on Intercepting Iranian Drones After Refusing Cooperation in 2022

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Ukraine to arrange a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss cooperation on intercepting Iranian drones.

The Israeli media outlet Ynet reported on this.

According to the publication, the request comes as Ukraine has gained significant experience in intercepting Iranian-made drones. Israel is interested in strengthening cooperation with Ukraine in this area.

Yevhen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, confirmed that the request had been made. He said the conversation has not yet taken place due to scheduling issues, but he hopes it will happen early next week.

In October 2022, Ukraine officially approached Israel with a request to launch cooperation in the field of missile and air defense.

The proposal for cooperation followed Russia’s active use of Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones. At the time, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Iran’s actions should prompt Israel to increase its support.

Ukraine also emphasized that without proper countermeasures, Iran would gain the opportunity to test the effectiveness of its weapons on a real battlefield and further improve them. This, in turn, could threaten Israel’s security.

In response, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz promised support for Ukraine but noted that due to “operational limitations,” the country could not supply weapons to Kyiv.

Later, in 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he had rejected requests from the United States and Ukraine to supply weapons to the Ukrainian army.

According to him, Israel feared that the weapons could be captured in Ukraine and transferred to Iran. In particular, this concerned the Iron Dome air defense system, which Israel developed jointly with the United States.

In total, Ukraine has received 11 requests from Iran’s neighboring countries, several European states, and the United States for security assistance in countering Iranian Shahed drones and similar threats.

In addition, Gulf countries have expressed interest in purchasing Ukrainian interceptor drones. Interest has been shown in particular by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.