Yaro Slav

Ukraine has one of the darkest track records when it comes to Jews, and it goes back a long time. It didn’t start with the Holocaust. In the 1600s, during the Cossack uprisings under Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Jewish communities were wiped out one after the other. Tens of thousands were slaughtered. For Jews in Eastern Europe, these events became part of how they understood their place in the world. But it didn’t stop there. Late 1800s into the early 1900s, pogrom after pogrom. It was not in just one city, or just one moment. Repeated waves of violence. Looting, killings, entire towns terrorized. Estimates run between 30,000 and 100,000 Jews murdered in those years, with some historians putting it even higher. When something repeats like that across decades, it’s not random anymore, it’s a pattern. Then the Holocaust, and Ukraine became one of the main killing grounds. Around 1.5 million Jews were murdered there. It wasn’t in gas chambers for the most part, but face to face. Forests, pits, ravines. The “Holocaust by bullets.” The most known example is Babi Yar, where over 33,000 Jews were shot in two days. Two days. That scale is hard to even process. And it wasn’t done by only the Germans. There was widespread local collaboration. Auxiliary police, nationalist groups, civilians helping identify Jews, round them up, sometimes taking part themselves. That fact gets people uncomfortable, but leaving it out doesn’t change what happened. After the war, it didn’t disappear. Under Soviet rule it was pushed under the rug, but it stayed there. After independence, it shows up in different forms. Polls over the years have found a meaningful percentage of people still buying into the same old ideas about Jews and power, influence, money. You also have the continued honoring of figures like Stepan Bandera. For many Ukrainians he’s a nationalist hero. For Jews and Poles, his movement is tied to collaboration and mass violence. Add to that far-right groups that use symbols and rhetoric straight out of the neo-Nazi playbook. They aren't a majority, but they exist, and they’re not exactly hiding. Now to be fair, Ukraine today is not Nazi Germany. They elected Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish. There are laws against antisemitism. You’re not seeing mass violence against Jews in the streets. But that doesn’t mean the deeper issue is gone. Attitudes don’t just vanish because laws change. And when you zoom out, it’s not just history or fringe groups. Ukraine has consistently voted against Israel in the UN, including after October 7. You can argue politics, alignments, or legacy voting blocs, but it still shows where things tend to land in practice. I traveled through Europe a few years ago, went to about 9 countries. Different places, different people, no issues. The one place where we got yelled at and even ran after a few times was Ukraine. That’s one experience, not a dataset. But at a certain point, when the history is this long and the signals keep lining up, it stops feeling like coincidence.

Ukraine has officially addressed Israel through diplomatic and legal channels, requesting action on the “PANORMITIS” vessel. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has submitted a relevant request to the Israeli authorities based on a Ukrainian court ruling to arrest the vessel as part of the ongoing investigation. The vessel is suspected of carrying a grain cargo that was illegally transported from a closed port in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in violation of international law and Ukrainian legislation. This is not Twitter diplomacy, but a very concrete legal and diplomatic request for international legal assistance that necessitates a response. We expect the Israeli side to take it seriously rather than responding with emotional statements.

In any normal country, purchasing stolen goods is an act that entails legal liability. This applies, in particular, to grain stolen by Russia. Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload. This is not – and cannot be – legitimate business. The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying. Russia is systematically seizing grain on temporarily occupied Ukrainian land and organizing its export through individuals linked to the occupiers. Such schemes violate the laws of the State of Israel itself. Ukraine has taken all necessary steps through diplomatic channels to prevent such incidents. However, we see that yet another such vessel has not been stopped. I have instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to inform all partners of our state about the situation. Based on information from our intelligence services, Ukraine is preparing a relevant sanctions package that will cover both those directly transporting this grain and the individuals and legal entities attempting to profit from this criminal scheme. We will also coordinate with European partners to ensure that the relevant individuals are included in European sanctions regimes. Ukraine counts on partnership and mutual respect with every state. We are genuinely working to enhance security, particularly in the Middle East region. We expect that the Israeli authorities will respect Ukraine and refrain from actions that undermine our bilateral relations.

Israel emptied out various munitions stockpiles the US keeps in the country for Israeli use pre-10/7 for Ukraine. This really hit them hard on 10/7 and after, when they didn't have enough munitions. Israel sent PATRIOT systems to Ukraine via the US. Israel provided lots of humanitarian support for Ukraine since February 2022. They set up a field hospital, sent armored ambulances, helmets and vests for first responders, treated and rehabilitated Ukrainian citizens, delivered hundreds of tons of aid, including specialized water purification systems for eastern Ukraine, emergency generators to address power shortages, food, blankets, and winter clothing. IsraAID provided training on mental health, psychosocial support, and distributing supplies in newly liberated areas. Israeli doctors conducted specialized training for Ukrainian counterparts on treating war-related injuries. In July 2025 an Israel-Ukraine strategic dialogue on Iranian threat was formed. Israel broke from the US position at the UN in February 2026 to vote for Ukraine and condemn Russia. Israel sided with Ukraine against a US position. Ukraine thus far has had a 90% anti-Israel voting rate at the United Nations. This issue was flagged to Zelensky in January 2023 as a bad thing, but they kept doing it. In December 2025, the Ukrainians said they'd be friendlier to Israel in diplomatic fora because they want more Israeli assistance and advice, but that's still TBD. In March 2026, Netanyahu asked for a phone call with Zelensky to talk Iranian drones. There has since been no call. Zelensky subsequently met with various Gulf leaders and inked drone agreements with them. He also inked a drone agreement with Egypt, who has been selling billions of dollars' worth of grain from Russian occupied Ukraine for years. ... The Israelis have done stuff for and with Ukraine and haven't done anything really anti-Ukraine. The complaint is that they don't do more and should be affirmatively anti-Russian even if doing so could lead to Israel incurring steep costs. I don't think the Ukrainians have some massive obligation to the Israelis either. It's not like the Israelis have gone above and beyond for them. But the Ukrainians have been on the whole diplomatically tepid at best towards Israel. And the Israelis reciprocate by being passive aggressive when Ukraine asks them to do stuff.

Israelis and Jews everywhere had this fantasy that they can be nice to Ukraine and Ukrainians will be nice back. We always have this fantasy; it’s time to learn. Plus, Ukrainian history of genocidal Jew-hate remains unmatched.