According to local news media, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meloni, who took office in October, has repeatedly expressed a desire to visit Ukraine to show her government’s support in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.
Italy, a NATO member, has provided cash and weapons to Ukraine, and earlier this month agreed to send mobile surface-to-air missile systems developed in collaboration with France.
“We have provided financial, military, humanitarian and civilian support” to Kyiv “and Ukraine can certainly count on Italy because we have shown since the start… that we were here (for Kyiv) and we will continue to be here,” Meloni stated this at a press conference in Warsaw on Monday.
Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, however has distanced herself from her coalition’s more pro-Russian partners.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, has previously expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin and even worn a T-shirt with the Russian president’s face.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party is the coalition’s junior partner, has sought to shift blame for the war away from Moscow, most recently criticising Zelensky earlier this week.
Meloni’s office responded by emphasising the country’s “firm and committed” support.
Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, will visit Kyiv in July 2022.
