Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Italy with an official visit, as per his Telegram channel.
Zelensky has posted a video from his meeting with the president of Italy Sergio Mattarella in Rome. He has also met with Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Pope Francis.
“I’m grateful for the consistent position on supporting Ukraine. We appreciate the important military aid which allows our state to resist Russian aggression. <…> Italy has been and remains on the right side, on the side of the truth in this war,” the Ukrainian president said in his post.
During Zelensky’s visit, “very important decisions about the defence of the Ukrainian sky were made”, media outlet RBC Ukraine reports, citing Zelensky and Meloni’s statements during their joint press conference.
Zelensky has shared that military cooperation was discussed during his meeting with the Italian government. Among other things, they discussed the implementation of the “peace formula”, which he had previously talked about with Meloni on several occasions, according to Zelensky.
“The third thing we talked about was cooperation in Europe. Italy achieved a very important thing by strengthening its energetic independence from Russia… One of the elements of this are the sanctions,” Zelensky added.
Ukraine’s leader has also shared that he asked Pope Francis to “condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine” and proposed he join the implementation of Ukraine’s “peace formula” as “the only working algorithm for achieving a just world”.
“[The Pope] also noted the tens of thousands of deported children. We have to make every effort to bring them back home,” Zelensky added.
Furthermore, German news agency DPA reports, citing official sources, that Zelensky will be at the Charlemagne Prize award ceremony in Germany on Sunday, 14 May.
At the beginning of May, Zelensky arrived in Finland with an unannounced visit. He held talks with the country’s President Sauli Niinistö and Speaker of the Parliament Petteri Orpo. He also participated in the Ukraine — North Europe Summit.
Afterwards, Zelensky visited the Netherlands and made a speech in the Hague during which he proposed to establish a proper international tribunal for the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
Zelensky’s “peace formula” is ten proposals announced by the Ukrainian authorities to bring the end to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian president first presented them last autumn during a G20 meeting. Among the proposals — ensuring nuclear, radiation, food, and energy security, restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and withdrawal of Russian troops.
Article updated a 7:46 PM Moscow time — Zelensky’s quotes about the Pope added, as well as an explanation about the “peace formula”
