(Dan Tri) – Ukraine felt disappointed when it witnessed the US and Western allies working together to help Israel shoot down 99% of Iranian missiles and UAVs over the weekend.
Ukraine is in ruins because of the more than 2-year war with Russia (Photo: Reuters).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed disappointment after the US and its allies focused their efforts on defending Israel against a major attack by Iran over the weekend, highlighting the limits of Western support for Kiev.
The US, British, French and other militaries stepped in to help Israel defend against attacks by more than 300 Iranian UAVs and missiles.
Meanwhile, Kiev said that Russia also fires a similar number of weapons into Ukraine every week with the UAV line that the West suspects is Shahed produced by Iran.
According to Ukraine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, since the beginning of this year, Russia has launched 1,000 missiles, 2,800 drones and 7,000 guided bombs into Ukraine.
While Washington and other allies have provided Kiev with some powerful anti-aircraft weapons, they have never directly shot down Russian fire.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian officials seem to sense a paradox.
`Now, the whole world has seen through the actions of Israel’s allies how effective solidarity can be,` President Zelensky said, calling on the West to also have fierce support.
Ukrainian officials have refrained from directly criticizing US policy publicly, fearing this would be seen as an act of `lack of gratitude` for Western help over the past two years.
However, Western experts say that because the opponents of Israel and Ukraine are two different countries, the reaction of the US and its allies in the two cases is understandable.
Russia is an energy power, possessing 5,000 nuclear warheads, so the West will have a more restrained approach towards Russia.
John Herbst, former US ambassador to Ukraine, said Western restraint to prevent the conflict from getting out of control was the reason Washington and its allies decided not to help Kiev directly shoot down Russian firepower.
Mr. Herbst noted that the American, British and French forces defending Israel over the weekend only intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, avoiding any skirmishes with Tehran forces that could lead to conflict.
Israel said the West helped the country intercept 99% of Iranian firepower (Photo: Reuters).
Western officials say their approach to the Russia-Ukraine war is appropriate given the risk of a dangerous escalation of tensions.
The United States and its NATO allies in the early days of the war rejected Kiev’s call to establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine, fearing a direct conflict with the Russian military.
Since then, this concern has also caused the US and its allies to refrain from providing weapons aid to Ukraine.
The $60 billion aid proposal is still stuck in the US Congress because of internal disagreements, leading to Ukraine’s reduced ability to defend and attack on the front lines.
Instead of helping Ukraine create an air defense network like Israel has, the West provided Kiev with a patchwork of equipment to prevent Russian attacks for months.
Ukrainian officials understand this, but it is not unusual for them to feel `disappointed` by the West’s simultaneous reaction to Israel.
`Of course I would like to have such an opportunity to defend our city against attacks of this kind,` said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Volodymyr Dubovyk, associate professor at Odesa I.I. State University.
Special security relations
In addition, although both Ukraine and Israel face a `rain` of firepower from their opponents, these two countries fundamentally have completely different security relationships with the US.
Few countries have closer defense ties with the United States than Israel.
The US does not have a defense treaty with Israel, but Tel Aviv has for decades had a special relationship with the US as Washington’s closest partner in the Middle East.
Under the 10-year agreement signed in 2019, Washington committed to providing Israel with $38 billion in military aid until 2028. The two sides cooperate closely on advanced military systems, including cyber networks.
That is why America’s response to Israel is different from Ukraine.
