Zelenskyy, Netanyahu negotiate trading air defense for Ukraine's UN vote on Palestine - media 

This is reported by the American Axios, citing the words of unnamed Ukrainian and Israeli officials.

It became known that Netanyahu, in a telephone conversation with Zelenskyy on Friday, December 30, 2022, allegedly asked him that Ukraine vote in the UN General Assembly against the resolution calling on the International Criminal Court to issue a legal opinion on the consequences of Israeli control over the Palestinian territories.

According to an Israeli source, Netanyahu asked Ukraine to change its position - as Ukraine traditionally votes against Israel in the UN - and this time vote "against", or at least abstain. At a meeting of the committee a few weeks ago, Ukraine voted "for".

The publication notes that Zelenskyy said in response to this request that in exchange for such a vote of Ukraine, he would like to hear how the new Israeli government plans to change its position on aid to Ukraine, in particular, whether it is possible to count on means of protection against ballistic missiles and Iranian drones. According to the Ukrainian source, Netanyahu did not make any promises, but noted that he is ready to discuss Zelenskyy's request in the future. Axios emphasizes that Zelenskyy “was not satisfied with such an answer.”

In the end, as noted by the publication, Ukraine chose a neutral option and decided not to participate in the vote at the General Assembly - in order, as the Ukrainian interlocutor Axios reported, “to give a chance to relations with Netanyahu.”

In turn, the Israeli source Axios says that Netanyahu was disappointed that the official Kyiv chose this decision instead of "abstaining" from the vote.

Netanyahu's office said that they could not comment on the leaders' talks in detail, but were ready to report only that after the conversation, Ukraine, which traditionally votes for resolutions against Israel, was not present at the vote this time.

Zelenskyy, speaking on his Twitter account on Saturday, December 31, about this conversation with Netanyahu, did not directly mention the exchange of votes in the UN on air defense offered to him by the Israeli side, noting only that “the issue of bilateral cooperation, including the security sphere, and interaction was discussed on international platforms.”