President Volodymyr Zelensky announced plans to travel to Rome on Monday night, or very early on Tuesday morning, after his visits to Brussels and London on Monday, convening with European leaders about a US-led plan aimed at ending the Russian invasion.
Following a meeting in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, and in Brussels to meet the heads of NATO and the European Commission, only seven countries of the 27-member bloc EU voted to move ahead with loans to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets, opposed by Belgium, where most of those funds are held.
The European leaders also discussed a peace plan forwarded by Washington, initially a 28-point plan that was later trimmed to 20 points, but lacked any assurances that Ukraine would retain territory usurped by Russia after its illegal full-scale invasion beginning in February 2022.
Ukraine and its European allies are expected to finalize their version of the proposal by Tuesday, Dec. 9, before presenting it to the US, Zelensky said.
Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv had no legal or moral right to give up land to Russia in any deal aimed at ending Moscow’s nearly four-year invasion.
“Do we envision ceding territories? We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either,” Zelensky said.
He added that the US was trying to find a compromise on the issue.
“Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don’t want to cede anything. We are fighting for that, as you well know… There are difficult problems concerning the territories and so far there has been no compromise.”
Zelensky did not make clear why he chose to visit Rome after the meetings in Brussels and London, but an audience with the Pope was on the agenda in the morning, and with Italy’s conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni in the afternoon.
Meloni does hold the rare distinction as one European leader who historically has had US President Donald Trump’s ear.
Italy was not one of the seven signatories on Sunday to push ahead with the frozen-asset-backed-loans, and – outside of European sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, on which it had been heavily reliant – appears to have been cautious about upsetting the Trump administration with full-throated support of Ukraine.
But, as Italy’s leading daily, Corriere Della Sera, put on Sunday: “[Tuesday’s] meeting between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Zelensky aims to disprove the narrative of Italy being lukewarm in its support against the Russian invasion, supposedly to avoid displeasing Donald Trump. Instead, it confirms Italy’s commitment to defending Kyiv. However, the fact that the meeting is taking place the day after the summit between Germany, France, and Great Britain in London, also with Zelensky but without Meloni, cannot be overlooked.”
Pope Leo XIV is set to meet with Zelensky at Castel Gandolfo at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Italy’s leading daily Corriere reported.
“We will continue to support Ukraine as long as the war continues, but we are all working for peace,” Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani was quoted by Corriere as saying.
Tajani noted last week that it would be “premature” for Italy to take part in a NATO program to buy US weapons for Ukraine in light of ongoing diplomatic efforts.
“It’s obvious that before starting negotiations, the two sides are naturally inclined to harden their positions,” he continued in his Sunday interview with Corriere, “but then we need to see, when the actual negotiations begin, what the point of agreement will be between the Russians and the Ukrainians, with American mediation and a European presence, given that we have imposed sanctions on Russia and peace cannot be achieved without the lifting of these sanctions.
“Therefore,” Tajani continued, “Italy is ready to do everything necessary to achieve a ceasefire and end a war that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.”