Italy says ready to act as guarantor of Ukraine peace deal

However, the country’s Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni said that “signals are needed from both sides” to start a settlement, which “do not exist today”.

During a press conference on Thursday, she said she intended to travel to Kiev in February, before the first anniversary of the start of the special military operation.

“It is necessary to work [on a peace settlement] concretely. Signals from both sides are needed. Today there are no significant signals <…> but I was glad during my conversation with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenski to hear that he has the intention to take initiatives in this direction. Italy is ready to act as a guarantor of the peace process, so I intend to be in Kiev before February 24 [2023],” Meloni said.

Meloni believes that continued support for Ukraine is necessary to create the conditions for peace. “Support work, like it or not, is needed to find a solution. Nobody likes war,” Meloni added.

On 22 December, The Wall Street Journal, citing US and European sources, reported that Ukrainian authorities were working out the details of proposals for a peaceful settlement to the conflict, which could be presented next February. According to their reports, “the team of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is working on the details of the plan”, which, as previously reported, consists of 10 points. Earlier, Zelenskyy, speaking after meeting US President Joe Biden before members of both houses of the US Congress, said that he had discussed with the US leader Kiev’s proposals on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. According to him, Biden supported the Ukrainian side’s idea to hold a global peace summit to discuss these proposals.

The Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitriy Peskov, commenting on Kiev’s initiative to hold a “peace summit” on the UN platform, said that any “peace plan” on Ukraine should take into account the new realities – the incorporation of four regions into Russia.

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