Did our best to mediate between Russia-Ukraine: Israel envoy Naor Gilon

Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel's Ambassador to India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan Naor Gilon on Saturday said that his country did its best to mediate between the two nations at war and also provided humanitarian assistance to the people.

"Very easy to say that everyone around the world is unhappy to see bloodshed and violence. We hope it'll stop soon. We're trying and did our best to both mediate a little between them and also to give as much assistance as we could to people," Ambassador of Israel to India Gilon told ANI.

The Israeli envoy made the remarks on the sidelines of an event on women empowerment organized by Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment (WEE) Foundation, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) and the Israeli Embassy.

Talking about the initiatives taken by Israel amidst the ongoing conflict and the humanitarian crisis, Gilon said, "We opened the field hospital in Ukraine, on the border with Poland inside Ukraine, which has just finished its work. We sent local medicine and supplies and we do hope that this thing will finish as fast as possible."

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics. Russia has maintained that the aim of its operation in Ukraine is "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine which has entered its third month now has created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with more than 5 million Ukrainian fleeing to neighbouring Western countries, according to the UNHCR data.

The war has also resulted in almost 3000 civilian casualties as of April 28. The casualty figures include as many as 70 children, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNOHCR).