"I was ready": Zelenskyy explained why his visit to Israel did not take place and how the war in the Middle East affects Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to visit Israel at the beginning of the conflict, but the trip did not take place. At the same time, the war in the Middle East is affecting Ukraine, as the world's attention is being defocused.

The Ukrainian leader made this statement during his final press conference on Tuesday, December 19. "The war in the Middle East... has an impact on assistance to Ukraine. The defocusing of the world's attention, consolidation, and support for Ukraine is bad for Ukraine's resilience and for the assistance....," he said.

He added that in this context, some states have begun to balance the issue of aid.

"We are in a full-scale war, there is a tragedy there, my condolences to all the victims. Russia has succeeded here, they have not succeeded on the battlefield, but they have succeeded on this track. Some states have started to hesitate, to balance who to help first, Israel or Ukraine. All this is definitely not a positive influence..." Zelenskyy explained.

He also said that he wanted to visit Israel.

"As for my trip to the Middle East and the region as a whole, I was ready at the very beginning, and this is a fact. This was my direct signal to my colleagues from abroad. They probably had other priorities. I cannot play too much with the schedule and my priorities, because I am leading the state in a war," the president explained.

In addition, when asked whether there were any similarities between the deaths of people in the Gaza Strip caused by Israeli actions and the deaths of Ukrainians at the hands of Russian occupiers, the Head of State replied:

"We recognize the policy of two states – Israel and Palestine. We recognize this tragedy, that the humanitarian consequences are terrible on the territory of the two states. But I cannot equate this with our war. Because the occupation and invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation did not begin with a terrorist attack by people with Ukrainian citizenship on the territory of Russia."

As a reminder, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin spoke out in support of Palestine while commenting on the war in Israel. He stated that Moscow is in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state and cynically called for "leaving women and children alone."

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the aggressor country, Russia, is interested in fomenting war in the Middle East. He reminded that world wars in the past were started by local aggressions.

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