Israel is doing more to support Ukraine than it gets credit for, Estonian President Alar Karis told The Times of Israel.

“Actually, it’s doing. Sometimes, you can’t trust what’s in headlines,” said Karis, speaking from the Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday evening, after a two-day trip to Israel.

Israel condemned Russia’s 2022 invasion and provided limited support to Ukraine, including humanitarian aid and an aerial warning system, but not weaponry. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that the United States, Israel, and Ukraine were in talks to provide Kyiv with up to eight Patriot missile air defense systems currently owned and used by Israel.

Overall, Jerusalem produced a relatively restrained response to the invasion, due to Russia’s widespread military presence at the time in Syria, Israel’s northern and bellicose neighbor, and the need to balance security interests at home and policy abroad, while maintaining relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.

Still, ties are warm between the countries. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Munich over the weekend and came away with an invitation to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Isaac Herzog and spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.

Karis, a self-described “pen-pal” of Herzog, told the president during his visit that “it’s important to support Ukraine.”

US President Donald Trump upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine last week, announcing that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war, following a dramatic prisoner swap.

It was unclear how closely Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be involved. Trump held a phone call with him last week, Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said, characterizing it as a “good conversation.”

We shouldn’t make any peace agreements without Ukraine

Karis called for Kyiv to be fully included in the process: “We shouldn’t make any peace agreements without Ukraine… Because our history has shown it. If it’s above their heads, it doesn’t bring peace at all. It means everybody has to be involved and accepted.”

The former biologist initiated the visit in WhatsApp conversations with Herzog. He said he wanted to get a better sense of the situation in Israel and came to convey what Estonia is facing closer to its own borders.

“I’m here to tell our people what happens here in Israel. This is very important for us because it’s an interconnected world.”

Karis visited Kibbutz Nir Oz, the border community that saw a quarter of its population killed or kidnapped on October 7, 2023. He was reminded of scenes in Bucha and Irpin, Kyiv suburbs where Russian forces committed war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.

“The last three years, I have been to two places with atrocities,” he told The Times of Israel. “I was in Ukraine suburbs after a Russian attack. The same thing, kids, children, and so forth, houses are destroyed. And now the same in the kibbutz.”

Though “we know who initiated this attack,” Karis’s call was for renewed efforts for peace and a two-state solution.

“The history has been more than 70 years to find a solution, and it’s getting more and more difficult,” said Karis.

“Now when I talk not only to politicians but to people, some people believe in a two-state solution, some people don’t,” he lamented. “From my perspective, we should start from citizens, that they accept each other. What they do need is just accepting human rights, that young people can go to school and get educated, and then you are more educated to properly find a solution to this conflict.”

Estonia is generally seen as one of the more friendly countries for Israel in the European Union. The country of 1.3 million has about 2,000 Jews. Around 1,000 Estonian citizens live in Israel.

In 2022, Estonia’s foreign minister said the Baltic country had changed its policy toward Israel and would no longer vote for UN resolutions condemning Israeli actions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Instead, the country is looking to align its UN voting position on such matters with Washington, its closest security policy ally.

However, in September, Estonia surprised many observers by supporting a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Israel entirely pull out of Palestinian areas within a year, and called for an embargo on arms that Israel might use in those areas.

The Estonia–Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Riigikogu law-making body blasted the vote, calling it “a change of course in Estonia’s foreign policy” and “a threat to Estonia’s national security.”

The Estonian head of state argued that this was not an anti-Israel vote.

“As a small country,” Karis explained, “it’s important that we still have a rule-based order that accepts international rules and values. It’s getting more difficult, I understand that. But still, for a small country, it’s important we don’t vote against any country.”

In December, an Estonian university cut ties with Shenkar College in Tel Aviv, drawing rebukes from that country’s prime minister and foreign minister.

Karis also held meetings on his two-day trip with Israeli entrepreneurs at Startup Nation Central in Tel Aviv.

“We have a lot to learn because you are doing extremely well as far as high tech is concerned and startups and so forth,” said Karis.

The president visited Ramallah to speak with Palestinian Authority officials on his trip as well.