Zelensky: Russia Will Help Iran Go Nuclear in Exchange for Drones and Israel Let It happen

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Israel’s refusal to provide Kyiv with military aid has bolstered an emerging Russian-Iranian axis whereby Moscow will assist Iran with its nuclear program in exchange for attack drones.

If Ukraine had “immediately secured our skies, Russian would not have a motive to go to Iran and offer something in exchange for assistance in terror,” the Ukrainian president said in a prerecorded video message to Haaretz’s Democracy Conference on Monday.

“We have been asking Israel for help since 2014,” Zelensky said. “The decision of your state, your governments…’not to annoy’ the Kremlin, not to help Ukraine for real.”

“In eight months of full-scale war, Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us. And their stock of missiles is dwindling. This is why Russia went looking for affordable weapons in other countries to continue its terror. It found them in Iran,” Zelensky said, adding Moscow had purchased 2,000 Shahed drones from Tehran so far.

“How does Russia pay Iran for this, in your opinion? Is Iran just interested in money? Probably not money at all, but Russian assistance for the Iranian nuclear program. Probably, this is exactly the meaning of their alliance,” Zelensky, who is Jewish, said.

“And this alliance of theirs simply would not have happened if your politicians had made only one decision at the time, the decision we asked for,” Zelensky went on.

Israel has been cautious about taking sides in the war, and is one of the only western democracies to share strong ties with both Russia and Ukraine. Jerusalem also coordinates all military strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Moscow.

Kyiv has repeatedly asked Israel for its Iron Dome and newer Iron Beam air defense systems but Jerusalem has said it would only help the wartorn country with a missile alert system, an offer which Kyiv has shunned.