Israeli warning system to be deployed by September
The system has been credited with saving hundreds of lives in Israel over the years during flare-ups of violence with terror groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon
(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – The civilian aerial warning system Israel is building for Ukraine is on track to be deployed in September, a Ukrainian official told The Times of Israel last week.
Ukrainian and Israeli officials met last week in Poland to work on the system. The system will initially cover much of Kyiv, the official said, then will hopefully be copied in other cities.
Since the beginning of the war last year, Russia has battered Ukrainian cities with missile and suicide drone strikes. But unlike in Israel, the system set for deployment in Ukraine will feature alerts only, without interception capabilities.
Ukraine has long sought missile interceptor capabilities, but Israel has so far refused, seeking to avoid overly antagonising Russia. This hesitance is mainly seen as linked to Israel’s strategic need to maintain freedom of operations in Syria, where Russian forces largely control the airspace. Israel is one of the few countries that maintains relatively good relations with both Ukraine, a fellow Western democracy, and Russia.
Then-defence minister Benny Gantz first announced last year that Israel could supply Ukraine with the early warning system, an offer reiterated by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen during his visit to Kyiv in February.
The Israeli warning system uses a mix of radar and electro-optic devices to detect rocket, missile, and drone launches, classify the size and the threat they represent, and pinpoint on a map the areas that are in danger. Citizens in those areas receive warnings through sirens, alerts on their phones, and messages on TV and radio.
The system has been credited with saving hundreds of lives in Israel over the years during flare-ups of violence with terror groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, which have launched thousands of projectiles at Israeli cities.
Meanwhile, Jews in the Ukrainian city of Kherson last week joined thousands of other residents in fleeing after the collapse of the Kakhova dam on the adjacent Dnieper River.
The incident triggered floods, endangered crops and forced thousands living in low-lying areas to take flight from the city near the frontlines of fighting between Russians and Ukrainians.
Rabbi Yosef Wolff said the community was helping organise shelter for the Jewish families affected.
“We’re helping the Jewish families find alternative housing, some with other Jewish families, others in communal spaces, and we’re looking to do the same in the countryside, which also has Jews,” he said. The local Jewish community also transferred blankets, clothes and other essentials to help non-Jews who have had to leave their homes even after staying put in the war-torn city for over a year of Russian bombings.
The local synagogue – a grey, two-story decorative Art Nouveau structure from 1899 – is situated 800 metres from the bank of the Kosheva River but escaped danger, being about 20 metres above the water level.
Around 80 per cent of the Jewish community had already left the war-torn city, said Rabbi Wolff, who returned in March following a year-long absence. Kherson was the first major city conquered by Russia as it launched a war against Ukraine in February 2022.
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