Ukraine envoy says Kyiv may soon recognise Israel's illegal annexation of Jerusalem

Ukraine may recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the near future, despite international law accepting East Jerusalem as Palestinian land illegally occupied by Tel Aviv.

Yevgen Korniychuk, Kyiv's envoy, feels his country will recognise the holy city as the "one and only capital" of Israel within months, The Times of Israel reported.

However, Korniychuk told the Israeli newspaper that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has specific stipulations on security ties that must first be met.

At a celebration held Thursday to commemorate 30 years of Tel Aviv-Kyiv relations, Ambassador Korniychuk said he wants to launch an embassy bureau in Jerusalem in 2022, when the Ukrainian president comes to the region.

"As soon as we get permission, we will do it immediately. Clearly we have to wait for official recognition," he explained to The Times of Israel.

This diplomatic bureau would work on Ukrainian-Israeli commercial and tech relations, according to Korniychuk.

Almost the entire international community rejects Israel's 1967 annexation of and sovereignty claims over Jerusalem.

Israel is pushing forward plans to establish a new settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line and near the Palestinian quarter of Beit Safafa https://t.co/Glg80ie5M1

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) December 6, 2021

Alexey Reznikov, Kyiv's defence minister, travelled to Israel to participate in an economic conference in November. The Times of Israel cited informed sources as saying Jerusalem was discussed.

Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Jerusalem minister Zeev Elkin broached the topic with Ukraine's president during a trip to the Eastern European state.

They were there for the 80th anniversary of a Nazi atrocity called the Babi Yar massacre in which nearly 34,000 Jews were killed, making it among the worst atrocities of the Holocaust.