Italian PM visits Kyiv for G7 virtual talks on Ukraine
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Kyiv Saturday to preside over a G7 virtual meeting on Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's invasion, the government announced in Rome, AFP reports.
The meeting, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also to attend, would discuss new sanctions against Russia.
Meloni flew to Poland, which adjoins Ukraine, and then took the train to Kyiv.
According to Italian news agency AGI, Meloni and Zelensky will open the meeting at 1600 GMT at the Saint Sophia cathedral in downtown Kyiv.
It is the first meeting of the G7, which groups the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, under the Italian presidency.
Italian diplomatic sources said the meeting would last 90 minutes and a joint declaration on Ukraine was due to be adopted.
"Italy, Europe and the West must continue to back Kyiv because defending Ukraine means .... keeping war at bay, protecting our national interests and preventing the international order based on rules from breaking down," Meloni told Italy's Il Giornale newspaper in an interview published Saturday.
"We believe in Ukraine's European future," she said, referring to Kyiv's frantic efforts to join the bloc.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for the second anniversary of the war.
