- October 5, 2026
- 10:50 pm
- World News
Israeli Minister Zeev Elkin arrived in Kyiv and met with representatives of Jewish communities in Ukraine at the Nativ Cultural Center. Accompanying him were the new Israeli ambassador Roi Rosenblit and the head of Nativ, Alon Shoham. Two days before the third anniversary of the October 7 attack, Elkin spoke about how Israel has changed since that catastrophe, and the meeting concluded with memorial candles. But the Israeli minister’s journey to Ukraine on this day itself passed close to the war.
Author: Alexander Khmelnitsky
On October 5, 2026, the Kyiv Jewish community in Obolon reported on the meeting of the Israeli Minister of Finance Zeev Elkin with representatives of Jewish communities in Ukraine. It took place at the Israeli Cultural Center “Nativ” in Kyiv.
Along with Elkin, the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to Ukraine, Roi Rosenblit, the head of the Nativ organization, Alon Shoham, and other Israeli officials attended the meeting. In a photo published by the community, Elkin and Rosenblit are seen lighting candles in memory of those who died on October 7, 2023.
It was there that a phrase was uttered that perhaps best explains the emotional background of the current visit.
According to the Kyiv Jewish community in Obolon, Zeev Elkin stated: “After October 7, 2023, we stood on our feet and changed the entire Middle East”.
This was said on October 5 — two days before the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. But it was said not in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, but in Kyiv, a country that itself continues to live under missile and drone attacks.
Why specifically “Nativ”
For the Israeli reader, the name “Nativ” may sound familiar, but the significance of this structure in the current meeting needs clarification. It is not just a cultural venue where Hebrew courses and events about Israel are held.
“Nativ” is a state Israeli structure historically working with Israel’s connections with Jews from the former USSR countries. The Kyiv Israeli Cultural Center has been operating for over 30 years, cooperating with Jewish organizations in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine, conducting educational and cultural programs, studying Hebrew, and maintaining a constant communication channel between the Israeli state and local communities.
And here an important detail emerges: Zeev Elkin is responsible for the activities of “Nativ” at the level of the Israeli government. Therefore, his current meeting with Ukrainian Jews is not a random addition to a diplomatic trip.
NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency has already followed this line. In November 2025, Elkin, together with Alon Shoham, visited Dnipro. At that time, “Nativ” announced its intention to restore the volume of its activities in Ukrainian cities to the level that existed before the full-scale war. More about this in our article “Nativ” will restore its activities in Ukraine “in pre-war format”.
And on January 22, 2026, it was Elkin and the chairman of the Jewish Agency “Sokhnut” Doron Almog who initiated an emergency meeting on the situation of Jewish communities in Ukraine amid a severe energy crisis. The reason was the appeals of the leaders of the communities themselves, who faced power and heating outages after Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Alon Shoham also participated in that meeting. Our material on this story — “The situation of Jewish communities in Ukraine in light of the serious energy crisis”.
It turns out to be a consistent chain: Dnipro in November, emergency work with communities in winter, and now — Kyiv in October.
Elkin traveled to Kyiv through the border, near which an explosion occurred in the morning
The current visit had another context.
On the morning of October 5, a serious incident occurred at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. The Moldovan border police officially reported that around 09:38 in the area of the Palanca — Mayaki — Udobne crossing, during Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, a shell fell. After hitting the ground, it ricocheted and hit a bus standing near the barrier.
The bus and the control booth were damaged, and one Moldovan border guard received a minor injury. The operation of the crossing was temporarily halted.
Several Israeli publications reported on the same day that it was through this border crossing that Zeev Elkin was heading to Ukraine and arrived there a few minutes after the incident. The minister himself was not injured and continued his trip.
Here it is important to separate two levels of information. The explosion itself, the damaged bus, and the injury of the border guard are officially confirmed by the Moldovan side. The fact that Elkin’s route passed through this crossing a few minutes after the incident is reported by Israeli media.
But even in such a cautious formulation, the geography of the visit looks indicative. The Israeli minister was traveling to meet with Jews in Ukraine through the border of a state where the consequences of the war can no longer be perceived as something distant.
For Elkin, Ukraine is not just a direction of foreign policy
Zeev Elkin himself has a biographical connection with Ukraine.
He was born in Kharkiv in 1971. In his youth, he studied Hebrew, participated in the Jewish and Zionist life of the city, and was connected with the work of the local Jewish community. In December 1990, at the age of 19, he repatriated to Israel. He later pursued an Israeli academic and political career.
Today his official position is Minister in the Ministry of Finance of Israel. Among other things, he is involved in the restoration of areas in Israel affected after October 7 and the subsequent war, and simultaneously oversees “Nativ”. The Knesset lists him specifically as Additional Minister in the Ministry of Finance.
Therefore, Elkin’s phrase that after October 7, Israel “stood on its feet” in Kyiv acquires another shade. It is spoken by a person who himself left Ukraine as a young repatriate and, decades later, returns here as a minister of the Israeli government — in the midst of another war.
Next to him is the new Israeli ambassador, who has just started working in Ukraine
In the photo with the candles, next to Elkin stands Roi Rosenblit.
For the Israeli reader, this also requires a brief explanation: Rosenblit is the new Israeli ambassador to Ukraine. Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Alexander Mishchenko received copies of his credentials only on August 21, 2026. At that time, the parties discussed Russian strikes, Israeli humanitarian aid, Ukrainian energy, and Israel’s participation in events marking the 85th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy.
At the same time, Rosenblit almost immediately began to go beyond the usual diplomatic protocol. In September, he visited the Kyiv Regional Hospital, where the use of Israeli experience in the rehabilitation of military and civilians was discussed, and then celebrated Rosh Hashanah with the Jewish community of Kyiv.
NANews detailed these first weeks of the new ambassador’s work: on Rosenblit’s meetings and the formation of a new Ukrainian-Israeli agenda and on his Rosh Hashanah meeting with the Kyiv Jewish community.
Thus, on October 5, at the table in “Nativ,” there were three levels of Israeli presence in Ukraine: a minister directly responsible for the work of “Nativ,” the head of the organization Alon Shoham, and the new Israeli ambassador.
Kyiv between Babi Yar and October 7
There is another temporal point that cannot be overlooked.
Just six days earlier, on September 29, Kyiv marked the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the mass shootings at Babi Yar. President Volodymyr Zelensky placed a memorial lamp at the Menorah memorial. Alongside him, rabbis, representatives of Jewish organizations, diplomats, and representatives of international missions honored the memory of the victims. Israel was represented, among others, by Roi Rosenblit.
On September 29–30, 1941, the Nazis shot about 34,000 Kyiv Jews at Babi Yar. Later, Roma, prisoners of war, Ukrainian underground fighters, psychiatric hospital patients, and other victims of the occupation regime were killed there. In total, it is about 100,000 victims. For Israel, this is not just a Ukrainian place of memory — it is one of the central points of the Holocaust history of Eastern European Jewry.
Some Israeli publications on October 5 linked Elkin’s visit with the ceremony at Babi Yar with Zelensky’s participation. However, the main state ceremony with the President of Ukraine took place on September 29. The commemorative program did not end there: on October 5, a pilot launch of the digital archive of the National Historical and Memorial Reserve “Babi Yar” was planned in Kyiv, and other events continue throughout October.
Therefore, it is more accurate to say that Elkin’s current visit falls on the ongoing month of Babi Yar memory, rather than on one separate ceremony.
NANews also detailed the anniversary itself: how the ceremony in Kyiv on September 29 took place and why it had to be protected by air defense and snipers, and why Babi Yar is again at the center of the Ukrainian-Israeli dialogue.
And another Kyiv, which in Israel is now known by the name of Daniel
There is also a very recent story, due to which the current visit of the Israeli minister to Kyiv cannot be perceived only as a conversation about diplomacy or historical memory.
On September 25, a 14-year-old Israeli citizen, Daniel Umansky, was killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv. He studied in Tel Aviv, and at the time of the strike, he was with his family in Ukraine. A few days later, his body was brought to Israel.
NANews reported on Daniel’s last schoolwork — a notebook left unfinished after the drone strike: “The Last Homework of 14-year-old Daniel Umansky”.
Thus, in just a few days, three different memories converged. On September 29, Kyiv remembered the Jews shot at Babi Yar 85 years ago. Israel buried a boy who died in the current war. And on October 5, Elkin and Rosenblit lit candles in Kyiv in memory of Israelis killed on October 7, 2023.
Comparing these tragedies with each other would be wrong. But it is impossible not to notice how close they are today in one city and in one political trip.
What this meeting means
The meeting at “Nativ” itself did not bring a loud interstate agreement. There was no announcement of a new military aid package or a diplomatic breakthrough. And perhaps that is why its meaning should be sought elsewhere.
At one table sat an Israeli minister, the head of a government structure responsible for connections with Jewish communities of the former USSR, a new ambassador, and representatives of Ukrainian Jews. And this happened not in a calm period, but during an ongoing war, after another Russian attack, and literally a few hours after a dangerous incident at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border.
Israeli state structures over the past year have gradually been restoring their presence in the Jewish life of Ukraine: restoring the work of “Nativ,” discussing community support, working with medical and humanitarian projects, participating in the preservation of Babi Yar memory. The current meeting in Kyiv continues this line.
And the photo with the candles leaves another detail that is difficult to convey in a protocol message.
Elkin was born in Kharkiv and left here as a young man for Israel. Rosenblit is just beginning his work as an ambassador in a country living under the daily threat of strikes. Representatives of Ukrainian Jewish communities remain here and continue their lives during the war.
And here in Kyiv, two days before October 7, they together light candles for those who died in Israel.
Elkin’s phrase — “we stood on our feet” — therefore sounds here not only as a story about what happened to Israel after 2023. In Kyiv, it inevitably meets another reality: the lives of people who have also been learning to stand up after each new blow for several years.