{"id":258307,"date":"2026-08-20T22:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/258307\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:15:23","slug":"ukrainian-amb-ahead-of-independence-day-israel-ukraine-face-axis-of-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/258307\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian amb. ahead of Independence Day: Israel, Ukraine face ‘axis of evil’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIndependence means something very special for Ukrainian people,\u201d Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk<\/a> told The Jerusalem Post ahead of the August 24, 35th Ukrainian Independence Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that about a million of our soldiers and the people working for law enforcement are willing to give their lives for the independence of the country. It means those people decided to participate in the effort defending the state against a much greater power, the Russian Federation<\/a>,\u201d Korniychuk, who has held the position since October 2020, said.<\/p>\n

He added that when Russia invaded in 2022, not many countries in the world believed Ukraine<\/a> would survive a year of war.<\/p>\n

Now, four and a half years down the line, Ukraine has \u201cproven that it is capable of keeping its borders, not allowing the Russian forces to go any deeper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Korniychuk compared his country\u2019s fight against Russia to Israel\u2019s fight against its enemies, referring to both as existential.<\/p>\n

\"UkrainianUkrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk attends a ceremony marking the two years anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Tel Aviv on February 23, 2023. (credit: ERIK MARMOR\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

He referenced the famous words of former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (herself born in Kyiv): “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly the same for our situation,\u201d Korniychuk told the Post. \u201cIf we stop resisting the Russian forces, there\u2019s going to be no country, and there are going to be no independence days anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranian-built drones strike both Israel, Ukraine<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been feeling more and more like we\u2019ve been fighting against the same axis of evil. You guys are against Iran, and we are against Russia. We\u2019ve been shot by the same Iranian-made drones<\/a> that are currently being improved substantially by the Russians. So we feel that we\u2019ve been fighting against the same enemy in different corners of the same battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming 35th Independence Day differs from the previous ones since the war started, he said, as \u201cthe war finally came to Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has not happened before. Currently, we are shooting with Ukrainian-made missiles and drones into Russian territory, pretty far up toward Siberia. We were able to demolish a substantial number, about 40%, of the refineries. So now there is a shortage of fuel in the gas stations all over Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ukraine has been careful to target only Russian military infrastructure or structures relating to its ability to export oil and gas, Russian rockets and drones are \u201cbasically shooting on civilian infrastructure.\u201d Just last night, a Russian missile barrage killed at least 12 people in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Korniychuk said that in the last year, Ukraine was able to produce its own cruise missiles, and it is now working on the ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

While it has been grappling with a shortage of anti-ballistic technology, he cited local reports that suggest Ukraine will be able to make its own anti-ballistic systems within the next six to nine months.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all problems, we are absolutely positive that we will win,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in any long-term peace agreement with Russia. But a stable ceasefire is something that is very possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that the Israel-Ukraine alliance extends to many fields, including technology and defense.<\/p>\n

The Jewish presence in Ukraine<\/p>\n

Korniychuk also spoke to the Post about Ukraine\u2019s long Jewish history and his pride in the long-standing Jewish presence there, which remains today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud that our Jewish population feels safe and they are serving in the Ukrainian army,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He spoke of the current preparations underway for the huge expected influx of Jewish pilgrims to Uman, the location of the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, which many choose to visit for Rosh Hashanah. Korniychuk said 40,000 Jews are expected to visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that the Israeli government will send the Israeli police and interpreters in order to help the local authorities keep the order and fulfill the local legislation as much as they can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also noted another important event in the Ukrainian-Jewish calendar, which is the upcoming commemoration of the Babi Yar massacre, which will mark its 85th anniversary on September 29-30.<\/p>\n

This event was the murder of over 33,000 Jews from Kyiv in 1941, who were marched to the Babi Yar ravine and shot.<\/p>\n

Korniychuk said he hopes that a high-level Israeli delegation will come to commemorate the event.<\/p>\n

Aside from this, he said he is \u201cproud that economical and trade relations are growing\u201d between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad that Israeli importers are in contact with us related to the grain that they are not buying anymore from the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine,” he said. “So we achieved quite a lot over the last months, and I think both of the nations can be proud of what we are saying and how we collaborate at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Korniychuk also told the Post that Ukraine is planning to hold a session in Kyiv for the strategic dialogue announced by the foreign ministers of Israel and Ukraine \u201cin order to exchange views about common threats for both countries in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded by thanking Israel for its support for Ukraine in its struggle for \u201cindependence and peace and prosperity,\u201d citing polls showing that over 85% of Israelis support Ukraine in its war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful to the Israeli people for their support for our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIndependence means something very special for Ukrainian people,\u201d Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk told The Jerusalem Post…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[7831,23677,1607,37,13222,55,56,8437,36],"class_list":["post-258307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-ambassador","tag-independence-day","tag-interview","tag-israel","tag-kyiv","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-russia-war","tag-war"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117130148881490787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}