Meloni on Ukraine: “Support for Kyiv is not an alternative to peace; it is what makes peace possible”

“The agreement on Russian diesel announced last Friday by US President Donald Trump is a decision that I consider very risky.” So said Giorgia Meloni in the Senate, on the eve of the European Council meeting in Brussels. The Prime Minister has distanced herself from the agreement and warned that it risks providing Moscow with new resources and new legitimacy whilst the war against Ukraine continues.

The surge in fuel prices, Meloni argues, is due “primarily to the war in Iran, not to the conflict in Ukraine”. Therefore, “the outcome of this decision is uncertain, whilst the risks are clear: a legitimisation of Moscow whilst its bombs continue to fall on Ukrainian cities, new revenue to fund the war, and an implicit weakening of the leverage provided by sanctions”. These factors, she adds, “contradict what Western states, including the United States, have done so far to push Putin to the negotiating table”.

The Brussels summit will open with talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, and Meloni referred to the new phase of the Russian offensive: “Russia has launched its new autumn campaign against Ukraine. Unable to make headway on the front line, Moscow has begun to strike ever harder at the civilian population: power stations, blocks of flats, hospitals, even buses taking people to work, as in the horrific massacre in Kramatorsk”. Meloni added that “this is a strategy through which Russia aims to break the Ukrainian people through terror, the cold and darkness, simply because it has failed to break them on the battlefield”. The Prime Minister emphasised the military stalemate: “The facts, after all, contradict the propaganda of the Kremlin and of those who spread that propaganda here in Italy as well. Since the start of the year, Moscow has gained very little ground, and in September alone it lost much of what it had gained in recent months."

According to the Prime Minister, the stalemate “did not come out of the blue”, but was built “on the courage of the Ukrainians and the support of the West, including Italy”. Hence her defence of the government’s position: “Support for Ukraine is not an alternative to peace; it is what makes peace possible. If the aggressor can aim for the opponent’s surrender, why would they need to negotiate? Surrender is not peace; it is conquest.” The reference is also to those in Italy who are calling on Kyiv to stop fighting. “If Ukraine were to stop defending itself tomorrow, as many hope and propose, we would not have peace. We would be discussing the occupation of a European nation and the return of Soviet-style imperialism, which Europe experienced for half a century.” She adds: “Personally, I do not look back on those years with nostalgia; I do not look back on the Russian tanks that crushed the uprisings in Prague and Budapest; I do not look back on the Berlin Wall.”

Italy’s position, therefore, “remains unchanged”: support for Kyiv, concern for the civilian population, pressure on Moscow and Euro-Atlantic unity. Meloni, however, supports a ceasefire regarding attacks on energy infrastructure and thanks Zelensky for Ukraine’s willingness to cooperate. Now, she says, Russia is expected to do the same.

Finally, the call for the EU-27 not to appear divided at the negotiating table. Meloni is calling for an ‘authoritative’ European figure with a mandate from all member states. If France, Germany and the UK intend to act within the E3 framework, ‘at the very least, they should do so on behalf of everyone and with an official mandate granted by all’. ‘I want to know on whose behalf and to say what. I want to ensure that Europe does not act in a disorganised manner.’