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For the first time since the beginning of the war: Israel gave export licenses for the sale of a UAV defense system to Ukraine - voila! News

2023-03-16T12:13:42.598Z


For the first time since the Russian invasion, Israel approves the sale of defensive military equipment to Ukraine. The Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the President of Ukraine of the decision. This is a system with a range of 40 km that shoots down drones using electronic warfare and is designed to protect power plants and strategic targets from attack by Iranian-made drones


Explosions in the Kyiv region following an Iranian suicide drone attack (Telegram)

Israel recently approved the granting of two defense export licenses for the sale of defense systems against unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine to help the Ukrainians deal with attacks carried out by Russia using Iranian drones against power plants and important infrastructure facilities in the country, according to three senior Israeli and Ukrainian officials.

After Russia began to attack with the help of Iranian drones, Ukraine increased the pressure on Israel to provide it with assistance (Photo: Reuters)

why is it important

  • This is the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago that the government approves defense export licenses for possible deals to sell military equipment to Ukraine.

  • Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been very careful with regard to military aid to Ukraine for fear of tensions with Russia and harming the Air Force's freedom of action against Iranian targets in Syria.

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Iranians in Ukraine protest against the supply of drones to Russia (Photo: Reuters)

In the news center

  • Last September, after Russia began using Iranian drones to attack infrastructure targets in Ukraine, the government in Kiev increased its pressure on Israel to provide it with military assistance.

  • Senior Ukrainian officials claimed that supplying defense systems to Ukraine against the Iranian drones is in Israel's interest because Iran could use the knowledge gained from operating the drones in Ukraine to improve their performance.

Senior Ukrainian: What we need now are ballistic missile defense systems.

A Ukrainian soldier in Behemoth (Photo: Reuters)

Behind the Scenes

  • Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen signed the defense export licenses in mid-February, when the government was in the midst of re-examining the entire Israeli policy towards the war between Russia and Ukraine.

    The conclusions of the re-examination were presented to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday, but at this stage no decisions were made on dramatic policy changes.

  • Senior Israeli officials said that during Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's visit to Kiev on February 15, he informed Ukrainian President Zelensky about the approval given by the Israeli government for the possible sale of anti-UAV systems to Ukraine.

  • According to senior Israeli and Ukrainian officials, the export licenses were given to the Elbit company and the Rafael company - both of which are developing defense systems against UAVs that may suit the needs of the Ukrainian army.

  • Senior Ukrainian officials said that a few weeks ago a Ukrainian security delegation arrived in Israel and received a demonstration of the purpose of a defense system against UAVs. So far no deal has been signed to purchase the system.

  • The system proposed to the Ukrainians uses electronic warfare to block the frequencies used by the UAVs and thus shoot them down. The system has a range of about 40 kilometers and can be placed near power plants or other strategic sites and thus protect them from UAV attacks.

  • A senior Ukrainian official said that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is interested in the Israeli defense system, but sees it as less critical at the current stage in light of the fact that Ukraine manages to intercept between 75% and 90% of the Iranian drones that Russia launches at targets in Ukraine.

  • "What we need most at the moment is a ballistic missile defense system. There we have a gap that we cannot bridge," said a senior Ukrainian official.

Update Zelensky.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visiting Ukraine, February 16, 2023 (Photo: Government Press Office, Shlomi Amsalem, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

what are they saying

  • Senior Israeli officials said that the approval of the defense export licenses to Ukraine is not a change in Israeli policy because the systems whose sale was approved are defensive in nature and do not use live fire so that they could not harm Russian soldiers.

  • The Ministry of Defense stated: "The State of Israel and the Ministry of Defense assist Ukraine in the defense and civil spheres. Each request or request from a foreign country is examined individually in accordance with the export policy to Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense does not publicly specify the export policy for security, political and strategic considerations."

  • between the lines:

  • An Israeli official who is aware of the issue said that one of the reasons why Israel agreed to give the export licenses for the defense system was to operate it against the Iranian UAVs in Ukraine, to examine its performance and see if it is necessary to introduce improvements.

  • news

  • Army and security

Tags

  • Ukraine

Source: walla

All news articles on 2023-03-16

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