On September 26, Giorgia Meloni, head of the centre-right Friends of Italy party, won parliamentary elections and became Italy's new prime minister. Volodymyr Zelenskyy was one of the first to congratulate the new head of parliament. Today, the first substantive telephone conversation took place between the leaders.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the dialogue, the parties discussed further support for Ukraine after the formation of a new Italian government, the introduction of additional sanctions against Russian aggression, and the termination of the issuance of tourist visas to the EU for Russians.
"Thank you for your strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state," Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Giorgia Meloni.
Any new leader of a European state causes anxiety among Ukrainians because now, more than ever, we need stable support to continue the defence of our state. The figure of the new prime minister aroused special emotions in our state since its parliamentary coalition includes the political force of Silvio Berlusconi, a friend of Putin. Nevertheless, during the elections, in the program of Meloni's opponents was a clause on stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine, while the centre-right insisted on continuing military support for our state. Prime minister Meloni says that Russia's war against Ukraine is just the tip of the iceberg — the visible and smallest part of a more global process of transforming established structures. Also, Giorgia Meloni transparently calls a spade a spade:
"Our help is rather symbolic (the only UK, according to Meloni, makes more than the entire EU), but if Ukraine loses, then Europe will be in the zone of the political influence of China," Giorgia Meloni.
Despite the anti-immigrant policy, Meloni is in favour of helping Ukrainian refugees and supports Ursula von Der Leyen's initiative to set a cap price for Russian gas.
