Weapons in Kiev, Salvini slows down. Clash with Crosetto

He has never hidden his misgivings about the continuation of sending arms to Kiev. This time the deputy prime minister and Lega League leader Matteo Salvini used the occasion of the corruption case involving the two justice and energy ministers whose heads Zelensky has demanded to revive.

 "It seems to me that corruption scandals are emerging, then they involve the Ukrainian government, so I would not like that with that money of workers, of Italian pensioners we go to feed further corruption," said Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini responding to journalists about the US request to buy arms for Kiev. 'The way to a solution,' he said at the end of a visit to the port of Naples, 'is the one indicated by the Holy Father, by Trump. Dialogue, put Zelensky and Putin around a table and silence the arms. I don't think sending more weapons will solve the problem, the problem seems to me that what is happening in the last few hours with the advances of Russian troops, tells us that it is in everyone's interest, first and foremost Ukraine's, to stop the war'

Guido Crosetto's reply was close behind, firm on the need not to let military support for Urcaina be lacking. After a conciliatory premise ("I understand Salvini's concerns"), the Defence Minister, in Berlin at the Group of Five meeting attended by Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Great Britain, remarked: "I don't judge a country by two corrupt people, just as the Americans and the British who landed in Sicily did not judge Italy by the presence of the mafia but came to help other Italians, the honest ones. Exactly what we also do in Ukraine. And we hope that the Ukrainian criminals will be put in jail, together with the Russians if possible'. Especially since 'Russian attacks are in 93% of cases directed against civilian targets. There is nothing military about it. This is Russia's war against Ukrainian citizens. And Europe understood this from the first moment. That is why we stand by Ukraine,' Crosetto added, stressing that the war is only going on 'because of Putin's will to expand'

Onwards with military aid to Kiev, then. All the more so since it was Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani himself who announced this morning that, with regard to Italy's aid to Ukraine, 'a new package is already ready, which we will sign in the next few hours'. "We must work to build peace and we are absolutely convinced that we can make progress on this," Tajani added. In recent days Tajani announced that in addition to the 12th military aid package, new generators would be sent to rehabilitate the affected power plants and help the population get through the winter. "Italy has so far allocated more than EUR 100 million for Ukrainian energy resilience, including contributions and aid credits for the reconstruction of the energy system, green transition and the protection of critical infrastructure," he explained, reconfirming his commitment to assisting the Ukrainian armed forces. Previous military packages have focused on strengthening air defence capabilities, an area that has been recognised as crucial for the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure.

The issue of arms to Ukraine could be one of the topics on the table at the next Defence Council convened by the President of the Republic for the day after tomorrow, which has as its agenda the examination of the evolution of ongoing conflicts and peace initiatives, with particular reference to Ukraine and the Middle East. But also the assessment of hybrid threats with reference to the possible repercussions on the security of the European Union and Italy