• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

First Wounded Ukrainian Soldiers Arrive for Medical Treatment in Israel

Sep 27, 2022

On Monday, two soldiers from Ukraine who had been wounded severely in the war arrived in Israel in accordance with an agreement.

The Sheba hospital said that the agreement involves 20 service members coming to an Israeli hospital for advanced medical treatment.

The veterans

According to the hospital, all the 20 injured veterans who will eventually be brought to Israel are amputees.

The hospital outside Tel Aviv would fit them with the specific prosthetics required and they will go through rehabilitation as well.

A field hospital had been set up by Sheba for six weeks in Western Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion. They had stayed away from the front lines and provided treatment to civilians.

For years, Israel has been providing medical treatment to Syrians who had been driven out due to the civil war and had come to the Golan border.

Eventually, a military field hospital had been set up for humanitarian reasons. The announcement about providing medical treatment to Ukrainian soldiers came after Israel received criticism from the Ukrainian president.

On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had been shocked due to the lack of defense aid they had received from Israel.

Israel’s stance

Since the war began, Israel has provided protective equipment and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which includes flak jackets and helmets.

However, it had not given any military supplies because Jerusalem did not want to ruin its ties with Moscow.

Israel was one of the handful countries to have warm ties with Russia and Ukraine both when the war kicked off.

But, recent months have seen Israel’s relationship with Moscow take a turn for the worse. Israel has been on Ukraine’s side for the most part, particularly after Prime Minister Yair Lapid took office in July.

Naftali Bennett, the former premier, had attempted to broker a deal between the two warring countries.

The complications

The Syrian airspace is under Russian control, which Israel uses for operating against forces linked to Iran. This includes the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes have mostly been ignored by Russia and the country has a substantial Jewish population, which it is using as a bargaining chip.

It has also threatened to shut down the Jewish Agency, which allows Jews from Russia to immigrate to Israel.

Since the beginning of the war between Ukraine and Russia, thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have fled to Israel.

Zelensky has repeatedly criticized Israel for not providing assistance to Ukrainian military. He said in an interview on Friday that Israel had not given anything to Ukraine for defending itself.

He stated that he understood that the country was in a difficult position with Russia due to Syria. Ukraine has asked Israel to provide its missile defense systems, like the Iron Dome.

This could be helpful in combating Russian airstrikes. Zelensky said that Israel offers air defenses to other countries.

He said that he was shocked that they could export and sell, but not give any assistance to Ukraine in its fight.

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