Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an allied response to Iran’s weekend drone attacks on Israel is an example of how countries can lend support to a country without involving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the war.
While Israel is not a NATO nation, the U.S. and others still came to their support, he told the PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz in an exclusive interview from Ukraine. “Still, allies, NATO member nations, were defending Israel. Nobody was engaging. No one entered a world war. Instead, they showed the Iranian force that Israel was not alone.”
He answered critics who, in his view, have charged that offering too much support to Ukraine is akin to involving NATO. Ukraine is not currently a NATO member, but has received support from NATO allies.
Ukraine’s president used a recent example to describe his point – Russia’s destruction of the Trypilska power plant, near the capital city, Kyiv.
“Eleven missiles were shot at Trypilska,” Zelenskyy said. The first seven missiles were shot down, but four made their way to the power plant. “Why? Because we had no missiles. We ran out of missiles.”
Ukraine has spoken repeatedly with U.S. leaders, including President Joe Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson, seeking more aid as the Russian war on his country drags into its third year.
Israel shot down hundreds of drones launched by Iran over the weekend using its anti-missile defense system, with assistance from the U.S. and U.K. Iran said it launched the drone strike in response to an airstrike that has been attributed to Israel that destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria and killed some of its top military officials.
The support of Israel is “an answer to anyone on any continent who’s saying that, ‘Well, you need to be careful in supporting Ukraine in order not to engage the NATO countries into the war,’” Zelenskyy said.
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