Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Friday that she plans to visit Ukraine in early 2023 and reaffirmed the country’s support for the Ukrainian government in the midst of Russia’s invasion.
«I will call President Volodimir Zelenski to convey to him my wishes to organize a visit, which I hope will take place during the first months of next year,» she said in statements to Italian television channel Rai 1.
His predecessor in office, Mario Draghi, visited Kiev in June together with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Meloni, who insisted that «Italy will continue to do what it has to do» to help the Ukrainians, stressed that he continues to seek «dialogue and peace for Kiev».
«Today, peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted. Our freedom cannot be taken for granted. We don’t have to go far and we can see that we are not in a place far away. We have to defend the international law that we were used to and that is no longer fully guaranteed,» he asserted.
Thus, he said that «those who know geopolitics know and understand that behind this conflict there really is one of greater dimensions, which does not involve only Russia and Ukraine». «The solidarity and firmness with which Italy has positioned itself in this conflict from the beginning is fundamental. The cornerstone of our commitment remains dialogue and the cessation of hostilities,» he added.
«Obviously, I hear talk of peace very often, and it is a complex issue given that I have never been convinced by the idea that declaring peace is enough to really obtain it,» he has pointed out, while warning that «the world is changing around us.» «Everything is changing (…) We have to defend a free world», he stressed.
Meloni took the opportunity to recall that «we are facing enormous challenges, which makes it necessary to make the best possible use of all the resources at our disposal». «We have before us the mission of defending the system created amidst the rubble of the conflicts of the Second World War,» he concluded.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
