A former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine says he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers a statement at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem on June 29, 2022. Bennett, a former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia's war with Ukraine, said during an interview posted online Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.
In the five-hour interview, which touched on numerous other subjects, Bennett says he asked Putin about whether he intended to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Bennett said that during his mediation, Putin dropped his vow to seek Ukraine's disarmament and Zelenskyy promised not to join NATO.
Bennett, a largely untested leader who had served as prime minister for just over six months when the war broke out,after he had positioned Israel into an uncomfortable middle ground between Russia and Ukraine. Israel views its good ties with the Kremlin as strategic in the face of threats from Iran but it aligns itself with Western nations and also seeks to show support for Ukraine.
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