Italy is not preparing new arms supplies for Ukraine. This was stated by Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto.
«We are not preparing the sixth package and we are not talking about the supply of missiles to Ukraine,» he said in an interview with Il Messaggero.
The minister did not rule out that in the future a new order may appear within the NATO and European Union on further military assistance to Ukraine.
«But now, we are completing arms deliveries promised by the previous government,» he said.
According to Crosetto, the only right solution to this conflict is negotiations.
«It is necessary to stop the hostilities, sit down at the negotiating table and achieve peace,» the minister concluded.
Earlier this week, Reuters, citing a spokesman for the Italian government coalition, reported that Rome intends to provide the Kiev regime with a variety of air defense systems, including EUROSAM Land system manufactured by France and Italy, Italian Aspide missiles, and Stinger MANPADS.
Shortly before this, Rome froze sending the sixth, military aid package to Kiev, the Il Messaggero reported, citing sources in the government. According to sources, this was due «exclusively» to the coordination process with NATO.
Against this background, it should be recalled that the leader of the ruling «Forza Italia» (Forward Italy) party, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in an interview with journalist Bruno Vespa, said that Ukrainian President Vladymyr Zelensky would agree to negotiate if the West stopped military assistance to the country.