According to Premier Mario Draghi, after talks held with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Rome on Wednesday, Japan and Italy are working to bring about a truce in the Ukraine war.
“Italy and Japan are working towards achieving as soon as possible truces, even localised ones, to enable the evacuation of civilians and favour peace talks,” he said. “We are continuing to exert pressure on Russia so that it will immediately cease hostilities.
“In our talks we reaffirmed the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. Kishida underscored Italy and Japan’s unity “in enforcing sanctions of an unprecedented severity” and “boosting aid to Ukraine”. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday thanked his Italian opposite number Luigi Di Maio for the sanctions and arms Italy has approved so far in the Ukraine war. Kuleba thanked Di Maio for “Italy’s leadership on sanctions” on Russia, “including the oil embargo, and the shipments of arms to Ukraine”. In a phone conversation, the two ministers also discussed security guarantees for Kyiv, Kuleba said on Twitter. Italy is backing Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union, FDi Maio told Kuleba in their long phone call Wednesday morning. “Premier Draghi yesterday clearly illustrated Italy’s line in the European Parliament: we want Ukraine to join the EU, we won’t look the other way, and we will continue to support you,” he said.
Di Maio added: “We are ready to take part in the reconstruction of Ukraine, destroyed by the insane Russian war”. Di Maio also said Italy was supporting EU sanctions and “working for peace”. He said, “we are helping the Ukrainian people to defend themselves from the Russian invasion”. The two Foreign Ministers reaffirmed that relations between their two countries had never been so strong. President Sergio Mattarella said the future of the whole of Europe is on the line in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of its neighbour. “The devastation of places in the heart of Europe, the lives lost, the attack on the freedom and independence of a country, these are things that we imagined belonged to a distant past,” Mattarella said in the Portuguese city of Braga during a meeting of the COTEC innovation network.
“We are at the side of the Ukrainian people and, while the destiny of Europe is on the line, it seems more necessary than ever to have the courage to look to the future, to imagine how culture can be a vehicle of peace”.
