Israeli Foreign Ministry source refutes Ukrainian ambassador’s claims about weapons transfers to Kyiv

In a Facebook post published on Jan. 21, Ukraine’s embassy in Tel Aviv claimed that Israel plans to transfer Russian-made weapons captured by the IDF during military operations to Kyiv. A source from Israel’s Foreign Ministry later denied this claim to The Insider.

According to the Ukrainian embassy’s Facebook post, Kyiv’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, met with Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel. The post alleged that Haskel proposed transferring to Ukraine Russian-made weapons “seized by the IDF in Lebanon or elsewhere from Israel's enemies.” However, the meeting and proposal were not mentioned on the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s website, and Israeli authorities have not confirmed any plans to transfer Russian-made weapons to Ukraine.

The post was later edited to clarify that Korniychuk had merely thanked the deputy minister for a proposal she had made in the Knesset several months ago regarding the transfer of Russian weapons — a proposal that was indeed voiced in November 2024.

As the source in Israel’s Foreign Ministry told The Insider: “This is nonsense; no one is transferring anything to anyone.” The source added that such decisions are made by the military and the Ministry of Defense, “and they are busy enough already, without supplying weapons to Ukraine.” The source also suggested that the Ukrainian side likely made the statement by mistake, speculating that, “They latched onto a comment and turned it into a news story.”