Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told FRANCE 24's Marc Perelman that "Russia benefits from the war in the Middle East". However, he said that Ukraine's partners were "confident" that "politically", the Israel-Hamas conflict "should not overshadow what is happening in Ukraine". He also voiced optimism that US backing for Kyiv would remain steadfast despite "dissenting voices" and the looming US presidential campaign.
Kuleba stressed that while Ukraine stood by Israel in the wake of the brutal Hamas attack, it was a "distorted assessment" to say that Kyiv was biased towards Israel. He called upon "all sides, both in Israel and in Palestine", to "respect the civilian population, to avoid casualties among the civilian population and to respect the status of critical civilian infrastructure".
"We know what war is better than anyone else," Kuleba added. "We wish peace to both states; we respect a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine."
Kuleba accused Russia of supporting Hamas because the war distracts attention from Ukraine. He claimed that Ukraine saw stepped-up Russian propaganda activity in Arabic on the eve of the Hamas attack, as well as the movement of Russian satellites "closer to the future zone of conflict". But most importantly, he said, Russia is trying to "change the whole narrative" about the war in Ukraine. "Politically, Russia does benefit from the war in the Middle East," he claimed.
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Kuleba denied reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had refused an offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Israel, saying that Zelensky was the first foreign leader to propose such a trip. At the time, Kuleba noted, no foreign dignitaries had yet visited Israel. "The offer was not rejected, Israel did ask to hold this visit at a later stage," he said.
Turning to US support for Kyiv, Kuleba said the war in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine "are not separate events". He expressed confidence that US backing, be it from lawmakers or the public, would remain steadfast despite "dissenting voices expressing different views" and the future US presidential campaign.
Asked about Ukraine's counteroffensive, Kuleba rejected the notion that there had been no progress on the ground, pointing to Ukrainian advances in the south. He also hailed the recent delivery by the US of long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv as evidence that support for his country was not receding. The missiles' arrival "defeats the argument of those who say that the support of Ukraine is vanishing", he said.
Finally, asked about the handshake between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban this week in China, he said: "I hope he (Orban) at least washed his hands and sanitised them after doing the handshake with Putin."
