Good evening everyone, thank you for being here.

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Rome today.

Seeing each other has now become a regular thing. We met just two weeks ago in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and around two weeks before that we had a meeting at the Cernobbio forum, right here in Italy.

This is not out of formality; for us this continuity is necessary, confirming that the Italian Government prioritises support for Ukraine, a nation which, it is always worth remembering, was brutally, unjustifiably and illegally attacked 959 days ago because the Russian Federation clearly did not accept the idea that Ukraine would continue to grow, prosperous, free, democratic and European.
Ukraine continues to endure indiscriminate bombings against civilian targets and critical infrastructure. Winter is now approaching, the third Ukraine will be facing in a state of war, and today it finds itself with half of its electricity grid out of use; I’ll leave it to you to imagine what that means.
In spite of this, the Ukrainian people continue their heroic resistance, because they are a people who want to be free to choose their own future, and it is the responsibility of the international community to help them with this endeavour, with this hope. 

President Zelensky is well aware that Italy has been by Ukraine’s side ever since this conflict first began and has done everything it could. This is what we have also reaffirmed this evening: we stand ready to keep doing so and will keep doing so for as long as it takes.

Clearly, as we have said several times, we are doing so not only because we are convinced this is the right side of history, but also because it is in our national interest to defend the rules of international co-existence, which guarantee everyone a future of peace, ensuring peaceful co-existence for all. If those rules were to be disregarded, then we would clearly all be living in a world of chaos, in a world unable to defend the most vulnerable especially.

As I reiterated to President Zelensky once again today, the aim of our support is to put Ukraine in the best position possible to pave the way for peace, and, as we have said many times before, peace cannot mean surrender, as many, too many, have cowardly suggested. 
This obviously necessarily entails also military support and, for example, support for the energy sector, which remains a key priority for Italy.

President Zelensky came here today - and I wish to thank him once again - to present us with his ideas for what could be a pathway to building that just peace, which we all need, Ukraine first and foremost of course.

We have also listened to the most immediate needs he has conveyed to us. I would like to stress that, as you know, Italy has always done its part. We have approved new interministerial decrees for military support, focusing above all on air defence, primarily because we want to save people’s lives but also to protect critical infrastructure, and we are now also discussing together how to support Ukraine’s defence industry, how to strengthen Europe’s defence industry, in order to make these efforts more and more sustainable and increasingly future-focused.

Euro-Atlantic integration prospects remain a key part of discussions, and we are ready to continue them with Ukraine and with the other partners.

We also agreed with President Zelensky on the importance of involving as much as possible international players able to convince Moscow to sit around a table and credibly negotiate. However, in doing so, we must continue to react firmly to any direct or indirect support for Russia’s war effort.

Looking to a future of peace and prosperity, to a European future, also means looking to reconstruction, which is why I am pleased to take this opportunity to announce the dates for the next Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will be held in Rome on 10 and 11 July 2025. We care a lot about this event and have already been working on it for some time.

The message I wanted to give Volodymyr once again is that Ukraine is not alone and we will be by its side for as long as it takes. President Zelensky’s presence here today helps to make this message even stronger, and so my sincere thanks for this visit, albeit a flying one; these have been very complex days.

Thank you.

[Courtesy translation]