Cernobbio, 7 September 2024 – “I thank Giorgia Meloni and the Italian people for their support and efforts to restore a just peace.“. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on X, reporting on the meeting he had with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, with whom “we talked about the implementation of the Peace Formula, with Italy playing an active role on all its points”.
One of the key topics we discussed was the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, focusing in particular on restoring our energy system. We deeply appreciate Italy’s decision to host the next Ukraine Recovery Conference in 2025,” the post continues.
Meloni: “We must not give up on Ukraine”
“The conversation with Zelensky? We discussed how to continue working to ensure legitimate defense and to reach a just peace,” Meloni said during her speech at the Forum. “The theses I supported two years ago on Ukraine are the same ones I support now as Prime Minister: We must not give up on Ukraine and we must continue to support it“.
“We must stop believing Russian propaganda, Ukraine’s fate is not sealed. I have been hearing for months and months – Meloni said – that Ukraine is losing the war while Russia is winning: the conflict in Ukraine was born with the idea of a ‘lightning war’ that in a few days should have led to the conquest of Kiev by Russia: this did not happen, Russia is not winning the war, but we are in a stalemate of the conflict.
“In February 2023,” the Prime Minister explained, “Russia controlled 17.3% of Ukrainian territory, and after a year of war it controls 17.5: we contributed to creating this stalemate by supporting Kiev because at the beginning of the invasion there was an enormous disproportion in forces in the field.“, he concluded.
“I have a plan: I will have Biden, Harris and Trump read it”
“I have prepared a plan and I want to share it with the current president of the United States because there are some points that depend on America. I hope I will have the opportunity to show this plan to Biden and the US presidential candidates, Harris and Trump, and get some feedback and some feedback. We want guarantees.“. Zelensky said this in an interview broadcast on Rai 1 and recorded in Cernobbio on the sidelines of the Teha Forum.
“At the moment we have not shared anything. The first contact will be with Biden. It is – he explained – not only about weapons, but also about important global issues”. In short, “we are talking – concluded the Ukrainian president – about a concrete defense package. And if we have it, it will be a strong deterrent for Russia and to be able to end the war under diplomatic conditions.“.
“We are closer to the end of the war”
“We are closer to the end of the war than we were at the beginning.“, Zelensky said in the same interview. “With these steps, with conviction, with reconstruction conferences and with concrete agreements, we are strengthening the economy and bringing the end of the war closer – he added -. Today with Giorgia Meloni we talked about the preparations for the international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine. To date we have no problems with Italy and in relations with Italy“. (Photo: governo.it)
