“Italy will also help us in the reconstruction,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky at the 50th Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio (Como). The Ukrainian president arrived in Italy after attending the meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of his country in Ramstein (Germany). The rumour of his participation in the Ambrosetti Forum had already circulated in recent days. The news was then confirmed by Zelensky himself who wrote via Telegram: “Then it will be Italy's turn. Ambrosetti International Economic Forum, meetings with representatives of the Italian business community. Negotiations with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. We are coordinating our positions with all G7 allies.” On the sidelines of the Ramstein meeting, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto confirmed Italy's commitment to supporting kyiv: “The SAMP-T system we delivered allowed Ukraine to defend itself against Russian missile attacks.”
Crosetto: “We must make this war end”
In his speech in Ramstein, Minister Crosetto reiterated the Italian position in support of the Ukrainian army against Russian attacks. “Attacks that hit energy infrastructures, schools, hospitals, and therefore the civilian population, we are not talking about military use but first of all about defending the civilian population and Ukraine's ability to live,” the minister said. Crosetto confirmed the long-term objective of Western engagement: “What we all agree on is that we must ensure that this war ends and, in the meantime, we must ensure that Ukrainian children, women and citizens do not die and the first way to do this is to stop the missiles that fall every day on civilian targets.”
“We also provide what we need to survive”
Italy's support for the Ukrainian cause is above all military: “All European and NATO countries, including Italy, have taken charge of training Ukrainian soldiers, we have done it in Italy and we will continue to do so because it is part of the path for which we have decided to help. But it is also humanitarian: “Our support is also materialized in this way, beyond – I always repeat – the supply of what is necessary to survive, for example electric generators, since 70% of the electricity production capacity has been destroyed. One of the main requests, I am talking about civilians, that is made to us, is that of electric generators.” Also because the harshest season is looming on the horizon: “We are heading towards winter and the Ukrainian winter is not a light winter, it is a very harsh winter”.
Read also:
