(To Francis Matera) Giorgia Meloni it never hid, it has always supported the Ukrainian cause against the Russian invasion. Italy, in agreement with NATO and the Americans, has sent arms and aid to the Ukrainian people, raising Moscow's reaction on more than one occasion. The Meloni government therefore continued in the wake of the Draghi government inspired by total alignment with Atlanticism. To date, 6 decrees have been issued for aid to Ukraine, the next one will be under discussion at the beginning of January 2023.
Yesterday the news. On his twitter account Zelensky he wrote: "Meloni informed me that the issue of providing air defense systems to protect the Ukrainian skies is being considered".
Palazzo Chigi in the evening he specified that the Italian premier "ha renewed to Zelensky, in their cordial conversation, the full support of the Italian government in Kiev in the political, military, economic and humanitarian fields, in the restoration of energy infrastructures and in the future reconstruction of Ukraine and reaffirming Italy's maximum commitment to every action useful to arrive at a just peace for the Ukrainian nation". There is no mention of air defense systems.
However, according to some rumors told by Corsera, the hypothesis of supplying Zelensky with the system is being examined SAMP / T of air and anti-missile defense – a program developed since 2000 by Italy and France. Another clue would be the trip to France of our defense minister, Guido Crosetto, to test the willingness of the transalpines to make a joint delivery. The SAMP / T it is a sophisticated and very expensive surface-to-air missile system of which Italy and France have few units (6 in Italy and 10 in France). Therefore, we cannot de-guard our air defense and the decision to send it will be much discussed in the upper echelons of our General Staffs.
Net of the Samp/T system, the Italian Parliament has in any case given the green light to sending weapons to Ukraine until the end of 2023.
During the phone call, Meloni, representing his intention to fly to Kiev as soon as possible, invited Zelensky to Italy. However, the Ukrainian leaders hope, by the end of February, a meeting at theUN with the general secretary António Guterres to convince him to mediate with Putin to reach a peace with acceptable conditions. Conditions that Putin, on the other hand, wants to impose only in the direction he likes, failing which the war will continue to the bitter end.