Michael Brodsky, Israel's Ambassador to Ukraine, repatriated with his family from the Soviet Union in 1990. He graduated from Tel Aviv University and began his diplomatic career in 2002.

In 2021, he was appointed to head the Embassy of Israel in Ukraine. In 2024, Michael Brodsky was awarded Ukraine's Person of the Year prize for his significant contribution to advancing humanitarian, partnership, and friendly relations between Ukraine and Israel.

Today, the two countries are working to expand cooperation in strategic areas such as healthcare, agriculture, cybersecurity, and water management.

Ukrinform spoke with the Israeli diplomat about the conditions under which the war in the Gaza Strip could come to an end, the water supply projects Israel is funding in Ukraine, and how the training of specialists in physical and psychological rehabilitation is helping Ukrainians recover emotionally.

THERE IS NO NAZI REGIME IN UKRAINE, AS RUSSIA CLAIMS

- Today is the second anniversary of the massacre in Kibbutz, October 7, 2023. More than 1,000 people were killed, and many people were taken hostage. About 48 people are still being held hostage. What are the prospects for releasing all of them?

- Well, thank you very much for mentioning it. Indeed, two years ago, on the 7th of October, an assault was perpetrated by the Hamas terrorists. As a result, more than 1,000 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed. As you mentioned, Hamas still holds a number of Israeli hostages. Unfortunately, not all of them are alive; we know that some of them are already dead. Nevertheless, we demand the return of all the hostages, both those who are alive and those who are dead. Immediately after this attack we launched a military operation against the infrastructure of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This operation had two goals: first, to release all the hostages; second, to dismantle the infrastructure of terror that Hamas built over many years. We are still pursuing these goals because they are crucial for keeping Israel safe and independent and for protecting our citizens — we cannot live next to a terrorist entity. That’s why we are continuing the military operation. At the same time, we are conducting indirect talks with Hamas, with the assistance of the United States and some Arab states, in order to reach those goals not only by military means but through negotiations. As we speak, there is a proposal on the table which was presented recently by President Trump, which basically guarantees Israel that all the hostages will be released and that Hamas will not control the Gaza Strip anymore. We have accepted this proposal and are now awaiting a response from Hamas. We really hope Hamas will respond positively so we can end this situation and end this war. If Hamas rejects the proposal, we will have no other choice but to continue the military operation until we reach these two main goals.

- At 9 a.m. Ukraine observes a moment of silence to commemorate all those who died — soldiers and civilians in the Russian-Ukrainian war. One of them is Dmytro Fialka (call sign Ship), who served in the IDF's Nahal Brigade and took part in the 2006 Lebanon-Israeli War against Hezbollah. He was also a football trainer. When the full-scale offensive started, he came to Ukraine to fight and actually joined the Right Sector. He was killed in October 2022. Do you know any other stories of such defenders who came from Israel to Ukraine?

- First of all, I remember very well his story. If I’m not mistaken, his family lives in the Lviv area, and I remember this story. And there are many other similar stories of people who had dual citizenship, Ukrainian and Israeli, and unfortunately were killed or died during this war. Since they had Israeli citizenship, we had to deal with all the arrangements. Sometimes the family wanted the body to be transferred to Israel to be buried there. So we know about these cases. But in most cases, we are talking about people with dual citizenship — Ukrainian and Israeli. Some of them volunteered to serve in the Ukrainian army to fight the war. I don’t know the exact number of these people, but I think it’s quite significant.

- Do you think that the case of Dmytro Fialka, who came from Israel, joined the Right Sector, and was very much respected by his comrades, can counter Russian propaganda about accusations of neo-Nazism in Ukraine?

- Well, there are plenty of human stories here over the last four years. Some of them are related to Israel in a certain way. But I keep saying it all the time: there is no Nazi regime, as Russia claims, and there is no Nazism or even nationalism on the official level. This doesn’t mean there is no anti-Semitism in Ukraine — like in any other country. But from this perspective, Ukraine is not different from any country in Europe or elsewhere. So I think that this claim is unfair, and I keep saying it all the time. The very fact that the president is a Jew and is absolutely open and straightforward about it, the fact that the Jewish community here is influential, vibrant, and developed — all of this shows the reality. Jewish life here is very developed, and I enjoy Jewish life in Ukraine. Just recently we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and I participated in several celebrations with different communities. So the Jewish life, despite the war, is flourishing in this country.

OUR ARTISTS PAINTED BOMB SHELTERS AND HOSPITALS IN UKRAINE

- Could you tell us more about the rehabilitation and prosthetic programs for Ukrainian veterans in Israel?

- From the very beginning, Israel provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. And we focused on the medical sphere, since we have a very, I would say, unique experience in this field, and we are a very advanced country in terms of medical services and in terms of rehabilitation.

I can just remind you of the field hospital which we deployed in the West of Ukraine at the beginning of the war. But in addition, we decided that we should train Ukrainian professionals, and we brought a huge number, like a few hundred, of Ukrainian professionals for study in Israel on the subject of both physical and psychological rehabilitation.

In addition, both the government of Israel and Israeli NGOs provided crucial assistance to Ukraine in this field of rehabilitation, especially psychological rehabilitation. And I’m very happy to say that Ukraine has adopted the Israeli model, the Israeli approach to the question of rehabilitation, and it’s been implemented everywhere in Ukraine.

For instance, here in Kyiv, there is a center which was created by the municipality of Kyiv, and it is based on the Israeli model. All the professionals who work in this center were trained by Israeli professionals, and it’s a very popular place. Many people come to this place to seek some sort of assistance, psychological assistance. I’m hoping that it works, and we continue this cooperation, we continue this assistance to Ukraine, because there is no other country like Israel which has such an experience in this field — for sad reasons, because we have fought our wars for many years, for many decades. But that’s the reason why we’ve gained such a unique experience that we are happily sharing now with Ukraine.

- Not only military personnel and adults suffer from the war, but kids as well. Israeli writer Lilach Kipnis, who was sadly killed on October 7, wrote a book for kids, titled "How to Hide in a Bomb Shelter," which is amazing, because before this war, we would think it’s something really special, but now we totally understand it. And there are also total therapy rooms, and these psychological instruments were also adopted from Israel.

- You are absolutely right, and unfortunately many kids were killed or taken hostage following the 7th of October. And we also have this experience of dealing with post-trauma that kids are suffering from, and we provided and shared this experience with our Ukrainian colleagues.

I just want to mention a couple of projects that we promoted as the embassy. For instance, our artists came here to paint in the bomb shelter, including the Children’s Hospital of Ohmatdit. They painted the bomb shelter, and in different schools, and in different cities in Ukraine, including in the eastern part, close to the front line. Also, our psychologists trained their colleagues, both physically and online, to deal with the post-trauma that the Ukrainian kids are suffering from. I think that this approach has already had lots of influence and lots of impact here in Ukraine.

ISRAEL IS INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING TO UKRAINE'S POST-WAR RECOVERY

- During the recent meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, they discussed providing Ukraine with aid for water supply worth $1.2 million. How are these projects going, and which cities have already got this aid?

- We have indeed purchased a few systems for water purification. We’ve installed some of these systems in different regions of Ukraine. One was installed in Uman. Two additional systems were installed here in the Kyiv area. One was installed in the Chernihiv area, and some additional systems are supposed to be installed in southern Ukraine, in Odesa region.

So we are, despite the fact that the war is still going on in Israel, happy to continue our assistance to Ukraine, and we are still providing some essential humanitarian assistance. We know that there is a huge problem of fresh water, of drinking water in some regions of Ukraine, so we decided to address this problem, and that’s why we decided to allocate this budget towards this project.

- Does Israel possess special expertise in water supply projects?

- Absolutely, absolutely. We have very significant expertise in dealing with water, both for agriculture and for urban areas, especially technologies related to water purification, the usage of water, and so on. Even before the war, we started sharing this experience with Ukraine, but now I believe that this experience will be very relevant to Ukraine, which is facing very serious problems with water, especially in the east and in the south of the country.

- There were times when people were cut off from water, and there were volunteers delivering this water to make people just drink and use it for home usage. Could you tell us more about Israel’s role in providing drinking water during the war?

- Yes, during the war, we also provided drinking water to different areas in Ukraine, and I’m very proud of this project. This was a very important project for me.

- In June this year, you stated that Israel had allegedly transferred U.S.-origin air defense missiles to Ukraine, but later this information was denied. Could you clarify this issue?

- I know that the president has recently addressed this issue. I have nothing to add to what the president has said. As I usually mention in most of my interviews, I prefer not to talk publicly about these issues. I think that matters of military cooperation should be discussed secretly between the relevant people through special channels and not publicly, and I’m not going to add anything to this.

- Our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, has stated that Israel has considerable potential for developing cooperation in medicine, cybersecurity, and other spheres. Which areas do you see as most promising for such cooperation?

- I totally agree. I believe there are several spheres where we can promote cooperation even now, and much more after the war. The main areas, as I can identify, are:

• Agriculture: Israel’s experience in advanced agriculture is especially relevant to Ukraine.
• Water management: which we have already discussed.
• Health: Israel has a huge and amazing reputation for its health services. Many Ukrainians used to go to Israel for medical help, and many doctors come to Ukraine to share their experience.
• Infrastructure and cybersecurity: there are quite many fields for cooperation.

I also believe that Israel’s experience in developing the country and its economy despite wars and security threats is extremely relevant to Ukraine. President Zelensky even mentioned at the beginning of the war that Ukraine will inevitably turn into a “big Israel,” meaning Ukraine will have to develop its economy, democracy, and society despite ongoing war and threats.

- Many countries are already signing up for recovery projects in Ukraine after the war. Is Israel also a part of them?

- Israel is very interested in being part of rebuilding Ukraine after the war. Israeli companies constantly participate in international events dedicated to this issue. Of course, it depends on how and when the war will be over, but Israeli companies are ready to participate. Israel is very interested in sharing its knowledge, experience, and best practices with Ukraine. I believe our knowledge will be extremely relevant and very beneficial to Ukraine after the war.

Anna Kostiuchenko, Kyiv

Photo credit: Yuliia Ovsiannikova, Ukrinform

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