Russia Ukraine war

‘The Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy “would not waver” in its support for Ukraine after meeting president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Almost one year on from Russia’s invasion of the country, Meloni referred to Ukraine as an “extraordinary nation” which has been heroic in defending its “freedom, identity and sovereignty”.

“Italy will give every possible assistance to create the conditions for negotiation, but until then it will give every kind of military, financial and civil support,” she said. “Those who support Ukraine, even militarily, are those who work for peace.”

However, she said there was no plan on the table for Italy to send warplanes to Ukraine. “It is a decision to be made with international partners.”

It was Meloni’s first visit to the war-torn country since her government took power in October.

She arrived by train from Poland and was visibly moved during visits to Irpin and Bucha, towns in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital where atrocities were found after Russian troops left. “It’s different talking about numbers and seeing on-the-spot the lives of people destroyed for no reason,” Meloni said at the end of her visit to Irpin.

“We saw devastation and suffering with our own eyes,” she added during the press conference with Zelenskiy. “We can’t turn the other way and it would be very stupid to do so.”

Meloni had earlier dismissed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s speech on Tuesday as “propaganda”.

“A part of my heart hoped for some different words for a step ahead,” she said.

Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine although the stance of her allies – Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League – have been less clear.

The Ukrainian president responded to controversial comments made by Berlusconi, the former Italian premier and long-time friend of Putin, who last week blamed Zelenskiy for the war, saying that if he had “stopped attacking the two autonomous republics of the Donbas” then the conflict would not have happened.

Zelenskiy said: “I believe that Berlusconi’s house has never been bombed by missiles, tanks have never arrived in the garden of his house, nobody killed his relatives, he never had to pack a suitcase at three in the morning to escape, or his wife never had to look for food…all this is thanks to the brotherly love of Russia. I wish peace to all Italian families, even those who don’t support Ukraine, but they need to understand that lives are being taken away.”’