Italy confirms backing for Ukraine, as Zelensky prepares to meet Pope Francis

ROME – Italy promised its full backing for Ukraine on Saturday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky began a visit for talks with top Italian officials and Pope Francis, who said in late April the Vatican was involved in a peace mission to end the war with Russia. 

Mr Zelensky, on his first trip to Italy since

Russia invaded in February 2022

, met President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace and then began a working lunch with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before he was due to head to the Vatican. 

Mr Mattarella reiterated Italy’s full support1 for Ukraine in terms of military, financial, humanitarian and reconstruction aid in the short and long term, according to a source in the president’s office. 

He also told Mr Zelensky that while everyone supporting Ukraine wanted peace, “It must be a true peace and not a surrender”, the source said. 

On Twitter, Mr Zelensky called his visit to Italy and the Vatican “an important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!”

Mr Zelensky flew to Rome on an Italian government plane that was escorted over Italian airspace by fighter jets. He was set to be the guest of a popular Italian television talk show before travelling to Germany.

Ms Meloni

visited Mr Zelensky in Kyiv in February

to assure him of Italy’s continued support for Ukraine, despite some of her allies, most notably former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, having longstanding, close ties with Moscow.

The meeting with the Pope is expected to be the most significant part of Mr Zelensky’s time in Italy. He previously met Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2020, and the two have had several phone conversations since the war began.

At the start of the war, the Pope tried to take a balanced approach in hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia’s actions, comparing them to some of the worst crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet era.

Returning from a trip to Hungary on April 30, the Pope made an intriguing, but puzzling, comment

about the Vatican being involved in a mission to try to end the war.

“There is a mission (on) course now, but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” he told reporters during his flight home.

Both Moscow and Kyiv publicly expressed surprise at his comments. The Vatican has insisted that something is in the works but has offered no details.

The Pope this week met Russia’s outgoing ambassador to the Vatican, Mr Alexander Avdeyev, and Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the Vatican may have given the envoy a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Peace efforts

Pope Francis has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.

The Pope has a standing invitation from Mr Zelensky to visit Kyiv, but the pontiff said previously that he also wants to visit Moscow as part of the same peace mission.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal

met the Pope at the Vatican on April 27

and said he discussed a “peace formula” put forward by Mr Zelensky.

Mr Zelensky and his team have been vigorously promoting

Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan

and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on the proposals.

It calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, and the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders. Mr Zelensky has repeatedly said the plan is not open to negotiations.

The Pope has said the Vatican is willing to do “all that is humanly possible” to help the repatriation of Ukrainian children. Kyiv estimates that nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since February 2022, in what it condemns as illegal deportations. REUTERS