Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj was scheduled to visit Israel on Tuesday, but the visit has been scrapped after the secret plans were leaked to an Israeli newspaper.
The visit was supposed to be a secret, but suddenly The Times of Israel began writing about it over the weekend. This has led the Ukrainian president to cancel the entire trip.
This development has been reported by several media outlets, including Ukrainian Pravda.
A source close to the Ukrainian president confirms that Volodymyr Zelenskyj is 'very disappointed' that the information was leaked, but there are plans for him to visit Israel at another time.
Israel had previously announced that they would welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyj with open arms if he planned to visit the country.
Volodymyr Zelenskyj almost always keeps his foreign visits secret, mainly for security reasons. This was also the case when he visited Denmark earlier this year.
No Choice
On Monday, it was revealed that Volodymyr Zelenskyj does not believe it is the right time to hold elections while the debate intensifies over whether the war-torn country should conduct a presidential election in May next year.
All elections in Ukraine have technically been canceled due to the military state of emergency imposed when Russia invaded the country in February last year.
"We must decide that now is the time for defense, the time of war, on which the fate of the state and the people rests," says Zelenskyj in his daily video address.
He says that now is the time for the country to be united and not divided.
"I believe that now is not the right time for elections," he says.
Many Have Fled
Last Friday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the president is considering whether it will be possible to hold the election next year.
"I don't think there's any other country in the world that would even consider holding elections while such a large-scale invasion is taking place," he said at a press conference.
However, he also mentioned that it would be difficult to hold elections because many Ukrainians have fled the country and many soldiers are at the front line.
He also expressed fear that polling places would become a 'perfect target' for Russian drone or missile attacks.
The front line in Ukraine has been largely static over the past year despite a much-discussed Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Politicians from the USA and the EU - Ukraine's main allies - have reportedly suggested that negotiations be held to end the 20-month-long conflict.
The USA has publicly maintained that it is ready to support Ukraine with military and economic aid for as long as necessary to defeat Russia.
However, the international community's attention has turned to the Middle East since the armed Palestinian group Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7th.
