Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travels to Kiev on Monday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a political source told Reuters on Sunday.
Giorgia Meloni, who took office in October, had already said that she planned to visit Ukraine before February 24, the day that marks one year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Despite frictions over the issue within Italy’s right-wing coalition and divided public opinion, the prime minister has been a strong supporter of Ukraine.
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the conservative Forza Italia party, part of the governing coalition, said last week that if he were still leader of the no would want meet with Zelensky, for finding the Ukrainian President guilty of the war.
The European People’s Party, of which FI is a member, said on Friday it would cancel the party’s days in Naples, which were supposed to be attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, because of Berlusconi’s comments. .
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of FI, Antonio Tajani, said, however, that he met on Saturday, at the Security Conference in Munich, with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, to whom he assured that Italy continues to support the Ukraine.
Italy and France recently ended talks to send an advanced air defense system to Kiev in the spring.