The Kremlin is already and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to advance information operations intended to reduce US and Western support to Ukraine, ISW concluded in its latest update.
In particular, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev claimed the US and its allies should have been “busy with” working on “Palestinian-Israeli settlement” rather than “interfering” with Russia and providing Ukraine with military aid.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) accused the West of blocking necessary steps for negotiations, leading to an “escalation in violence.”
Lots of Russian propagandists rejoiced in the new war, saying that attention and aid would be diverted from Ukraine. For example, Sergei Mardan directly stated that Russia will benefit from the escalation as the world “will take its mind off Ukraine for a while and get busy once again putting out the eternal fire in the Middle East.”
The Hamas Palestinian fundamentalist organization started its terrorist attacks against Israel on 7 October 2023. Political leaders in the West and worldwide condemned the attack and expressed their solidarity with Israel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also stressed that “the world must stand united and in solidarity so that terror does not attempt to break or subjugate life anywhere and at any moment.” He affirmed Israel’s “right to self-defense is unquestionable.”
Zelenskyy hinted that Iran and Russia are backing Hamas, saying that the whole world understands what “sponsors” could ensure the organization of the Hamas attack on Israel.
