Italy’s Meloni Wants US at Next European Ukraine Talks, Rules Out Troops

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni said Thursday she hopes the United States will be involved in the next European meeting on Ukraine and repeated Rome’s refusal to send troops to defend any peace deal.

The Italian prime minister joined Ukraine’s other European allies and President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Paris aimed at agreeing a coordinated policy after Donald Trump shocked Europe by opening direct talks with the Kremlin.

Meloni, a right-wing leader who has sought to maintain ties with the US president, has repeatedly warned that Europe needs to work with the United States on Ukraine and the wider issue of security.

On Thursday, she “stressed the importance of continuing to work with the United States to stop the conflict and achieve peace,” her office said.

As such, she “hoped for the involvement of an American delegation at the next coordination meeting”, it said.

The European countries agreed to ramp up rather than lift sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

But while Britain and France sketched out plans to send a “reassurance” force after any peace, Meloni repeated her position that in Rome’s case, “no national participation in a possible military force on the ground is planned.”

The United States claims tentative progress towards a ceasefire to end the three-year conflict sparked by Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor. But as yet, a peace deal appears far off.

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Meloni’s office said lasting peace requires not only continued support for Ukraine but also “solid and credible security guarantees” that “must be founded in the Euro-Atlantic context,” and could “partly follow what is provided for in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.”

Under NATO’s Article 5 provision, an attack on one member is considered an attack against all.

Summit host President Emmanuel Macron suggested a “technical study” into the question, which Meloni said she “welcomed.”

Ukraine has offered through the United States a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has so far failed to respond, with the European allies growing all the more impatient.