Italy wants to produce drones with Ukraine, what Meloni told Zelensky

“As I have said on many occasions now, we must always remember that, if today the conditions exist for working towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, we owe it above all to the tenacious resistance of the Ukrainian people and also to the convinced support that the West has ensured in recent years: two factors that have prevented Russia from realizing the plan it had set itself, namely that of invading the entire nation, making it capitulate in a few days and installing a puppet government in place of the one democratically elected by the Ukrainians”, explained the prime minister during joint statements with the Ukrainian president.

“L’Italy will continue to promote, within the G7 and within the European Union, economic pressure on the Russian Federationwhich continues to show no concrete signs in the negotiation process, persists in attacks against civilians and persists in targeting infrastructures essential to the population. The twentieth package of sanctions that Europe is preparing to adopt represents, from this point of view, an important step to further reduce the revenues that fuel the Russian war machine”, the Prime Minister said again.

“In the same way – continued Meloni – we will also continue to work to ensure the provision of the financial support that was decided by the European Councilwhich is a fundamental tool to guarantee the survival of Ukraine, because a possible financial crisis in Kiev would also produce incalculable damage for the entire European stability”.

“We also discussed the issue with President Zelensky Ukraine’s accession process to the European Union, which Italy hopes for like other European nations who have long started this journey. I want to remember, with a hint of pride, what the Italian system has put in place to help the Ukrainian people face the emergency and the hardest phases, such as the winter just ended. We have supplied, as promptly requested, industrial boilers and electric generators to deal with the blackouts and interruptions in supplies due to the Russian attacks”, he further explained.

“Now we are focusing on sending medical machinery, especially for the maternity wards. I believe that we must be, as Italians, proud of this work done to support the civilian population”, claimed Meloni.

“Italy interested in joint production of drones”

The prime minister then spoke of a possible “joint production of drones” between Rome and Kiev. “We continue our 360-degree support for Ukraine. Today we also discussed a lot about how to strengthen our defense cooperation. Italy, in particular, is very interested in developing joint production, especially in the field of drones, a sector in which we know well that Ukraine, in recent years, has become a leading nation“, the words of Meloni.

For his part, Zelensky declared that he was “working with the countries concerned” for the “protection from attacks by the Shahed and their defense”. Speaking at Palazzo Chigi, the Kiev leader reported Italy’s “important interest” in the cooperation program on drones: “We have agreed with Giorgia Meloni that our teams will work on the details of the program.”

“We have absolutely need additional anti-aircraft systems. For us they are vital and we can work together for production of these systems,” he said again.

Zelensky’s thanks: “Italy has made a clear choice of values”

“In the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Italy made a clear choice of values – in favor of life, in favor of our defense. We feel it in every decision, in every expression of support and solidarity with our people. I am grateful for all the assistance to Ukraine”, the concept reiterated by Zelensky in a post on our needs to strengthen the protection of the skies”.

“We discussed defense cooperation and agreed that our teams will work out the details of a drone agreement between our countries. We also addressed the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf in the context of the war in Iran,” Zelensly wrote. “We shared the outcomes of our talks with leaders of the region and assessments of key positions. It is crucial that after this war there is more security, not less, and that the interests of all nations are respected. What security will look like after this war is a global concern. And in this moment, all of us in Europe, in particular, must coordinate substantially – to safeguard both our interests and our way of life. Thank you, Italy! Thank you GiorgiaMeloni, for the meeting and for your support.”