Meloni in Ukraine: 'I have to be here in Kiev'. The visit to Bucha: 'You can count on Italy until the end'

Giorgia Meloni in Ukraine, a few days before the anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The premier arrived by train in

in the afternoon she will meet the Ukrainian president

.

The Prime Minister, smiling, was welcomed with a bouquet of flowers before leaving the station and getting into the car to move to the hotel.

," she said as she got off the train.

"I am determined to understand what these people need", she added, answering those who asked her if she was excited.

"I think it's only right to be here to reiterate the position of the Italian government and perhaps also to personally realize what is needed by a people fighting for freedom".

"It's always different to see with your own eyes, I think it also helps Italians understand".

Giorgia Meloni in Kiev: 'Honored, it's a duty to be here'

Then Prime Minister Meloni arrived in Bucha

, one of the sites of the massacres of civilians perpetrated in March last year by the Russian army in Ukraine.

in mass graves.

In front of this symbolic place, the Prime Minister closed in recollection.

"You can count on Italy, we have been with you from the beginning and will be until the end. You have all our support," the prime minister told the Ukrainian authorities.

A medal made with used bullets is the homage reserved for her premier during her visit to Bucha.

Meloni carefully observed the medal and read aloud with interest the engraving on the back: "City not conquered".

At times moved, Meloni listened to the stories of the tragedies caused in these places by the Russian aggression from various Ukrainian authorities.

After reviewing even a small photographic exhibition with images of the horrors, the Prime Minister asked the

interpreter to translate a message to his interlocutors: "You are not alone".

"

."

After Bucha, the visit to Irpin,

which suffered heavy bombing in the initial stages of the war.

In Irpin, also a stop last year during Mario Draghi's visit with the French president Emmanuel Macron and the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the prime minister delivers to the local authorities two generators to support critical infrastructures, which are part of a batch of 52, for over 660 thousand euros donated by the Italian government to Ukraine.

At the symbolic ceremony, alongside two of the 45 firefighters vehicles donated by the Italians, Italian associations active in Kiev were also present.

Welcomed in Irpin by the mayor, the prime minister listened to the story of the destruction of this area from the mayor, asking him various questions about the population and how long it would take to rebuild the city.

"Having the money - replied the mayor -,

"It's different to talk about numbers or see people's lives destroyed for no reason - Meloni said before leaving Irpin to return to Kiev, where he will meet President Zelensky -, we saw flowers and stuffed animals: it's different, it's worth seeing." 

THE JOURNEY TO UKRAINE

In the night, around two o'clock, a stop for checks in Lviv, after having crossed the border with Poland on a blue train, a special convoy departing from Przemysl station, headed for the Ukrainian capital.

The premier with the Italian delegation (with her, among others, the undersecretary to the presidency Giovanbattista Fazzolari) had arrived in Warsaw yesterday afternoon where she met with prime minister Morawiecki and president Duda and then headed to Kiev. 

The premier's trip to Kiev

THE PODCAST OF THE REPORTER, the journey to Ukraine

Ukraine,

in April last year