As the diplomatic war of words between Jerusalem and Kyiv over stolen Ukrainian grain escalated this week, a senior Israeli diplomat met with Russia’s ambassador while declining to make time to meet with the European Union envoy, two foreign diplomatic officials told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

EU envoy Michael Mann has been trying for over a week to meet with Simona Halperin, the Foreign Ministry deputy director general in charge of  ties with Europe, said the officials.

Halperin met with Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov on Tuesday, according to the Russian embassy.

“An exchange of views took place on current topics of international cooperation, with particular attention paid to European issues,” said the Russian readout. “A mutual commitment to maintaining a constructive Russian-Israeli dialogue was reaffirmed. It was agreed to continue maintaining contacts.”

However, Halperin pushed off a potential meeting with Mann to next week at the earliest, according to the two foreign officials, who said the European diplomat is seeking to discuss allegations that grain poached by Russia from Ukraine is being sold in Israel.

The EU mission to Israel declined to comment, as did Mann. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

On April 28, in Jerusalem Ambassador of Russia Anatoly Viktorov held a working meeting with Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel Simona Halperin. An exchange of views took place on current topics of international cooperation, with particular… pic.twitter.com/Z335fQyLDP Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } — Russia in Israel (@israel_mid_ru) April 28, 2026

On April 28, in Jerusalem Ambassador of Russia Anatoly Viktorov held a working meeting with Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel Simona Halperin.

An exchange of views took place on current topics of international cooperation, with particular… pic.twitter.com/Z335fQyLDP

— Russia in Israel (@israel_mid_ru) April 28, 2026

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem’s handling of the stolen grain would affect how willing Kyiv is to offer expertise on countering Hezbollah drones.

Israel has asked for assistance, said the official, as Hezbollah steps up its use of attack drones against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

On Sunday, Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, was killed and six other soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah explosive drone strike in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, a soldier was seriously wounded and another lightly hurt by a Hezbollah UAV, after which a Defense Ministry contractor Amer Hujirat was killed and his 19-year-old son was lightly injured.

We will consider this request in contingency with their behavior with the stolen grain.

We will consider this request in contingency with their behavior with the stolen grain.

“We will consider this request in contingency with their behavior with the stolen grain,” said the Ukrainian official.

While providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Jerusalem has pursued a relatively restrained response to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine due to Russia’s military presence in Syria, Israel’s northern bellicose........

© The Times of Israel