Conflict in the Middle East 'taking focus' from Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky may visit Israel, depending on what’s happening on the battlefield’ AP)

- TOM WATLING

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that the war in Israel and Gaza is “taking away the focus” from Russia’s full-scale invasion, as he denied suggestions that the conflict in Eastern Europe had reached a stalemate.

Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday alongside European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Zelensky said Russia wanted the focus on Ukraine to be “weakened” but added that “everything is [still] in our power”. Mr Zelensky has offered to visit Israel, though he has admitted it is “difficult” because it depends on “what’s happening on the battlefield” in Ukraine, which he said remains “hot”.

Russia has historically supported Hamas, which carried out the 7 October attack on Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip, but there is no evidence to suggest the Kremlin was involved in, or aware of, the incursion. Nonetheless, Russia, like Hamas, is a recipient of Iranian weaponry, which has been used to kill both Israeli and Ukrainian civilians.