Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni assures that Italy's support for Ukraine "will not weaken"
The head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, assured on Tuesday, during a visit to Kiev, that Rome "does not intend to weaken" its support for Ukraine, despite the differences within the ruling coalition in Italy, reports Agerpres.
"I wanted to come to Kiev to reiterate Italy's full support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and to reaffirm that Italy has no intention of weakening this support," Giorgia Meloni said during a press conference with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The Italian prime minister specifically visited Irpin and Bucea, two towns where massacres were committed during the Russian occupation in the spring of 2022, explaining that "seeing it with your own eyes is different" and that she would do "everything to tell all Italians what I saw". Referring to possible additional arms deliveries to Kiev, she stressed that Rome is "focused on air defense systems", already promised in cooperation with France, but that sending planes is "a decision to be taken together with international partners" . Since taking office in October, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia party, has reiterated her country's support for Kiev. In her first speech in parliament, she promised to "continue to be a reliable partner of NATO in supporting Ukraine", in line with the policy of her predecessor Mario Draghi. The former Italian prime minister, a supporter of Zelenski, went to Kiev in June with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Romanian head of state Klaus Iohannis.
