Standing on a destroyed road bridge over Ukraine’s Irpin river, Natan Sharansky demands a radical change of policy by Israel.

“Israel simply must supply arms to Ukraine, because it is in our own interests to do so,” says the former Israeli cabinet minister and Soviet prisoner of conscience.

He reveals that at his meetings last week with President Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader asked the “embarrassing” question of how the Jewish state could be the only free world country apart from Hungary not to supply Ukraine with weapons.

The Irpin crossing carries deep symbolism — for the Russian invaders it had been a bridge too far. Ukrainian forces had sabotaged their own bridge to block the invaders’ drive towards Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

It also lies near Bucha, the formerly Russian-occupied suburb that has come to epitomise the invaders’ contempt for human rights and human life.

“Putin underestimated the determination of the Ukrainian people to fight for their people, and he did not realise how weak, corrupt and unprofessional the Russian military system is,” Mr Sharansky tells the JC.

He says a decisive defeat for the Russians could only come about if the West — including Israel — provided substantial weaponry. “All the free world is in danger if, through his barbaric aggression, Putin emerges victorious. That is why every country of the free world has to give every assistance.”

Mr Sharansky sees strong similarities in the Ukrainian and Israeli struggles for survival. “Ukrainians have a right to be a free nation within its borders. That is exactly the struggle Israel has — to be a free nation living in the free world.”

He adds that an “alliance of dictators” is taking shape between Russia and Iran which threatens the post-Soviet international system. “Israel’s argument that in order to fight one dictator we should not actively combat another dictator becomes irrelevant.”

He says Israel is providing substantial humanitarian assistance but accepts that there are constraints on what it can provide. “We need to keep our technological superiority over those who want to destroy us, and that’s why we cannot unmask our most secret weapons.

“But we can safely provide, for example, urgently needed anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence. We can and must definitely help.”

Mr Sharansky says Putin has convinced himself he is invincible. “He aims to be president for life. But if he suffers a real defeat, losing the territory he has seized in Ukraine, I believe he will be toppled from power.”