Israel's Gallant to speak to Ukraine's Reznikov for first time after U.S. pressure

At the request of his U.S. counterpart, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is expected in the coming days to speak to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov for the first since taking office more than five months ago.

That's according to Axios, which cites two senior Israeli defense officials, Ukrinform reports.

Gallant and Reznikov are expected to speak by phone early next week to discuss non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, the Israeli officials said.

Plans for the call came after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday asked Gallant if he would speak to his Ukrainian counterpart and do more to help Ukraine, according to the officials.

During Gallant's meeting with Austin, which took place on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers' gathering, Gallant presented the Israeli government's policy about military assistance to Ukraine and stressed that Israel will not provide to Ukraine any lethal weapons, the Israeli officials said.

During their meeting, Austin also told Gallant "increased Iranian-Russian military cooperation is resulting in profoundly negative consequences for Ukraine, as well as the Middle East region," the Pentagon said.