Zelensky pleads American Jews for support

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an impassioned plea for support to American Jewish leaders on Monday, comparing Russia's invasion to the Nazi German army steamrolling across Europe.

"This is just a pure Nazi behaviour. I can't even qualify this in any different manner," Zelensky told the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations via a zoom call.

Zelensky named a list of the cities and towns he said had been destroyed by Russian forces, while outnumbered Ukrainians were fighting with everything they had, even when they had no weapons.

"They are throwing themselves under the tanks - just for you to understand what's happening here," the Ukrainian leader, said. 

The Russians are not letting people leave towns and cities they have attacked, are not allowing food and water to be brought in, and are disconnecting the internet, television, and electricity, he added.

"All of this happened during Nazi times when the German army rolled through Europe and everyone gave the Jewish people away," he said.

"The survival of the Ukrainian nation - the question will be the same as antisemitism... All of these millions of people are going to be exterminated."

Russia has repeatedly cast its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow dubs a 'special military operation,' as an attempt to 'denazify' the country, a charge widely rejected by the international community.

Zelensky, Ukraine's first Jewish president, has repeatedly asked Israel to supply Ukraine with weapons and military aid.

On Sunday, Ukraine's ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, criticised Israel's unwillingness to provide helmets and body armour to Ukraine, asking "what are they afraid of?"

"Can you please tell me how you can kill with this thing?" Korniychuk asked rhetorically, placing a helmet on his head. "What are they afraid of? To provide personal security for Ukrainians?"

Israel, a close ally of the US, has condemned the Russian invasion, voiced solidarity with Kyiv, and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine. However, it has been reluctant to provide more tangible support given its reliance on Moscow to conduct military strikes in Syria.

Israel regularly attacks Iranian and Hezbollah military targets and contacts with Moscow prevent Russian and Israeli forces trading fire by accident.   

In a move coordinated with the US and its European partners, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday in an attempt to mediate an end to the fighting.