Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, announced on Monday, that Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on June 29 on the issue of supplying weapons to Kiev.
“Today we asked to hold a meeting on June 29 regarding the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, and its implications for diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis,” Polyansky said, on his Telegram channel.
“The meeting is expected to start at 10:00 Moscow time (00:19 GMT)… We’ll try to find an official who can look into this issue objectively and professionally”.
Russia has repeatedly warned, through its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, against pumping Western weapons into Ukraine, stressing that any arms shipment entering Ukrainian territory would be a legitimate target for Russian forces.
Supplying Kiev with weapons doesn’t contribute to any progress or success in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, but rather it will have a negative impact.
In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Defense denied, in a comment to the Russian Sputnik news agency, press reports that indicated the possibility of transferring Israeli Merkava tanks to Ukraine.
“Reports about the transfer of Israeli tanks to Ukraine are false, and due to the conflict in Europe, several countries have expressed interest in obtaining Merkava tanks from the reserves of the Israel Defense Forces,” the Israeli Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The discussions haven’t yet led to an agreement and they are awaiting approval from the Israeli Ministry of Defense and interested countries.
The head of the Defense Export Department at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, General Yair Kulas, confirmed in an interview with Calcalist magazine that Israel is negotiating the sale of Merkava tanks with two countries, one of them in Europe.
According to Kulas, the negotiations have reached an advanced stage.
At the same time, the general stressed that the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the country’s political leadership adhere to a clear and balanced policy prohibiting the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
He believes that the desire of defense institutions to be as active as possible in the field of business is normal, but the redlines set by the government seem completely normal.
