Meloni mediates between Zelensky and Trump. The Ukrainian leader: "The proposal to the USA tomorrow"

The Prime Minister’s premise Giorgia Meloni is that Italy will continue to do its part support from Kiev “also with a view to the future reconstruction of Ukraine“, but it is important “aunity of views Between European and American partners“, and “the European contribution to solutions that will have repercussions on the security of the continent” is equally important: in the meeting with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky held at Palazzo Chigi and lasted about an hour and a half, the Prime Minister reiterated to her guest her beliefs in trying to build the conditions for a “just and lasting peace“.

The two leaders – explained a government note – “analysed the state of progress of the negotiation process and shared the next steps to be taken”. On the table is the American peace plan because, the thesis supported several times by the prime minister, the position of the most important ally cannot be ignored. And therefore for the prime minister, steps forward and solutions are needed to end the conflict. But at the same time there must be “robust security guarantees” for Kiev that prevent “future aggression” by Moscow. And it must also continue pressure on Russia “for him to sit at the negotiating table in good faith”. The Ukrainian president defined the conversation with the Prime Minister as “excellent and very in-depth” and thanked Italy, appreciating its “active role in generating concrete ideas and defining measures to bring peace closer”.

Zelensky: proposal to the USA tomorrow

Zelensky aims to send the updated plan to the United States tomorrow to resolve the conflict with Russia: “We work today and we will continue tomorrow. I think we will deliver it tomorrow.”

US pressure and internal divisions in Italy

The Ukrainian leader is facing the pressure from the United States so that you accept the peace plan of the occupant of the White House (“He must accept the situation and the fact that Ukraine is losing the war,” the latter said in an interview with Politico), and in a short time he should send the United States proposals to change it. But even in Italy the political picture in the majority is multifaceted on the need to support Ukraine under the same conditions: the Lega continues to have doubts about decree extending the shipment of weapons to Kiev and which will arrive on the table of the Council of Ministers. The line of the Via Bellerio party asks for a sign of discontinuity compared to the decrees of previous years. The reality of the facts is that “the war is going in a certain way, I am not taking money away from Italian healthcare for a war that is lost”, says the deputy prime minister of the League Matteo Salvini. “The impression is that someone in Europe has no interest in peace becoming concrete, the government’s position is balanced, the sooner we sit at the table the better it is for everyone”.

The Meloni line

The Prime Minister has no intention of missing the Italian support for Ukrainehas already reiterated that the decree will be implemented. But the line, also illustrated yesterday to European leaders, is that of not ‘detaching’ from Washington.

Translated with the words of a ‘big’ of Fdi “it is necessary to remove rigid positions, even Zelensky must find a solution to the conflict, it is necessary to look for a compromiseit is not possible to do without the United States”. In short, the belief is that support for Kiev will not fail “but – the same source argues – public opinion is tired and it is not even convenient for Kiev to drag out the war any longer, it is better to concede a small part of the territory and then count on NATO security guaranteesforcing Putin to sit at the table”. The main issue is linked precisely to territorial concessionswhich Zelensky has no intention of accepting.

The crux of frozen Russian assets

On the table there is also the topic of Russian assets are frozen to finance the maxi-loan to Ukraine. We will talk about it at European Council of 18 December but the Italian government continues to have doubts. So does the League. “It would open a Pandora’s box, it’s impossible”, argues the Northern League member Claudio Borghi. But Kiev’s pressure continues: “It is important to finally allow the full use of the frozen Russian assetsstrengthen Ukraine under the ‘Safe’ program and further increase contributions to the ‘Purl’ initiative”, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister wrote in X after the meeting with the head of the Farnesina.