Ukraine to the Israeli ambassador: Do you think we are the Gaza Strip?
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Kiev strongly condemned Thursday, Israel's request to help Russia in evacuating its citizens and diplomats from Ukraine, an incident in which a Ukrainian official considered that Tel Aviv treated his country as if it were the Gaza Strip!
Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine summoned Israel's ambassador to it, Michal Brodsky, to hand him a letter of reprimand over his country's request for Russia's help in this regard.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the authorities in Kiev summoned Brodsky to “reprimand” and obtain clarifications about the call of the Secretary-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Alon Ashbys, with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Special Envoy of the President of Russia to the Middle East and North Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, which included the request.
The ministry added that Brodsky made it clear to Ukrainian officials during his summons that Ashbys was seeking, during the contact with Bogdanov, to reduce the current escalation and stress Israel's concern about its diplomats and citizens.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, according to the newspaper "The Times of Israel", that the two sides "had a difficult conversation."
Brodsky was summoned after the "Axios" website published a report on Wednesday, saying that Ashbys, during the call with Bogdanov, asked Russia to open safe corridors to evacuate Israeli citizens from Ukraine in the event that Russian forces entered it.
This statement aroused strong dissatisfaction with the authorities in Kiev
A Ukrainian diplomatic official said in an interview with the newspaper "Haaretz" yesterday that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will summon the Israeli ambassador, and asked: "You deal with us as what? Like the Gaza Strip or something else like that? It's nonsense."
As of Wednesday, only about 3,000 Israelis have left Ukraine, while it is estimated that about 10,000 more Israelis will remain in the country.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that for the United States Ukraine is just a tool to reach its goal of containing Russia and dragging it into an "armed conflict".
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, mocked Western media reports that had set a date for the alleged Russian invasion against Ukraine.
"We request the American and British disinformation outlets such as Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Sun and others to publish the schedule of Russian "invasions" for this year. I would like to plan a vacation," Zakharova said on Facebook.
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