Ukraine is considering suspending visa-free travel with Israel for two reasons

Ukraine, at the level of the highest political leadership, is considering suspending the visa-free regime with Israel due to the difficulty of guaranteeing the safety of pilgrims to Uman and the growing number of refusals to enter Israel for Ukrainians.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk said this in an interview with Radio Svoboda.

Commenting on the upcoming Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, he noted that Ukraine expects at least 20 000 people to come to Uman this year, as was the case last year, despite the warning of the Ukrainian authorities.

"The National Police, the State Emergency Service, other state bodies, border guards had to divert a significant number of their forces for the sake of order and security. In addition, we say that we cannot guarantee safety from missiles and drones, because we, sorry, do not have enough to secure our cities," noted Korniychuk.

According to him, there is an open dialogue with the Israeli government: "The embassy insists that if for some reason you do not want to allocate air defense equipment, sell them in order to protect civilian Ukrainian citizens, maybe you want to protect your own? Itʼs logical."

The ambassador emphasizes that it is not about canceling the visa-free regime, but its suspension.

"That is, no one was going to cancel the intergovernmental agreement, but there is a second factor besides Uman: unfortunately, the number of our citizens who are being deported has increased. It looks, unfortunately, very shameful, and the embassy cannot do anything here," the diplomat informed.

Korniychuk explained that any citizen who came to Israel with a Ukrainian passport has their document taken away, they are made to wait for an interview in a separate room for at least 5-10 hours, and then 10% of Ukrainian citizens are rounded up and deported without explanation. The Ambassador of Ukraine emphasized that last year the statistics of refusal of entry was 2-4%, and this year it has increased to 10%.

"I confirm that we are concerned that the issue is being considered by the highest political leadership. This is not a decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is a decision of the highest political leadership of the country," Korniychuk noted.

• Despite the war, 23 000 Hasids came to Uman last year, so they are expected this year as well. Their safety was not guaranteed at that time due to the constant threat of missile and drone attacks. The special services then reported that some of the Iranian drones that Russia launched in the south of Ukraine were supposed to attack the Hasids in Uman. This was allegedly one of Iranʼs conditions.
• Pilgrims are advised to refrain from visiting Umani this time as well.