Ukraine’s Zelensky In Rome For Meeting With Pope Francis.
“An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!” he tweeted as he landed in the Italian capital.
He met Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella and will head for the Vatican later on Saturday.
A major safety campaign has started, with more than 1,000 police troops and a no-fly zone over Rome.
President Zelensky held a private meeting with his counterpart President Mattarella, then met PM Meloni for a working lunch.
Italy historically has strong ties with Moscow.
Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister, has frequently voiced pro-Russian sentiments and criticised military assistance to Ukraine. President Zelensky is not expected to meet either Mr Salvini or Mr Berlusconi during his trip.
The Vatican is ready to act as an middle man in the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, Said by Pope Francis, he has said this often
He stated that the Vatican was working on a peace plan to resolve the matter earlier this month, saying that the mission is “not yet public. when it’s open
, I will talk about it.”
But the relationship between Ukraine and the Vatican has sometimes been uneasy.
The outstanding act of criticizing the Pope last August when the pope mentioned Darya Dugina, who was the daughter of a famous Russian ultranationalist who was killed by a car explosive, as a “innocent” victim of war, was carried out by Ukraine’s representative to the Vatican.
Saturday will be the first time President Zelensky and Pope Francis have met since Russia invaded Ukraine. The pair did meet in 2020.
Germany helped with its largest defense support program for the Ukraine, worth €2.7 billion (£2.4 billion).
. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, said the aid indicated that Russia was “bound to lose and sit on the bench of historical shame”.
President Zelensky had wanted for a visit to Germany after his trip to Italy, as reported by German media this past week, even though this remains to be examined.
In other developments:
Ukraine’s Zelensky In Rome For Meeting With Pope Francis
- President Zelensky’s visit comes after Russia carried out a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight
- Damage to more than 20 people, Khmelnytsky, a town in the western part of Ukraine.
- Critical infrastructure, as well as homes and government buildings, was also hit
- About 90 km (56 miles) behind the fighting line in eastern Ukraine, in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk in explosives were heard on Friday. Russian-backed separatist forces in the region accused Kyiv of using Storm Shadow missiles, which the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with earlier this week
- There were also more reports of blasts in Luhansk on Saturday
- A woman suffered injuries after a helicopter crashed in the Bryansk region of Russia nearby the Ukrainian border.
- Footage circulating on social media purports to show an S-24 war plane also crashing in the region on Saturday – although the videos have not been verified.
