Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Rome to meet Sergio Mattarella, Giorgia Meloni and the Pope. As part of a European tour that will take him to Berlin over the weekend, the Ukrainian president stops in the capital for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion, after having already visited Washington, London, Paris, Brussels in recent months and Helsinki and The Hague in recent days. While the Vatican continues to work on that "peace mission" between Kiev and Moscow announced by Francis himself but with still "reserved" contours.
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella will receive Volodimyr Zelensky tomorrow at the Quirinal Palace. The time of the meeting has not yet been released. According to parliamentary sources, the Ukrainian president could meet Meloni on Sunday, after receiving her last February in Kiev on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. A certain harmony immediately emerged between the two leaders, although Zelensky has shown that he does not mince his words in criticizing an ally of the Meloni government, Silvio Berlusconi, for his never really severed ties with Vladimir Putin.
In these seven months at Palazzo Chigi, however, the prime minister has reiterated and demonstrated several times that she wants to keep Italy alongside its Euro-Atlantic allies in supporting Kiev, explaining in parliament and in international forums the need to send arms to Ukraine to put it in a position to defend itself and the rest of Europe. Betting on a "European, peace and freedom" future for the country now at war, Italy also wants to carve out an important space in future reconstruction, a commitment estimated at 400 billion dollars over 10 years. Just a few weeks ago, Meloni dedicated the bilateral conference in Rome on April 26 with the participation of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other Ukrainian government officials.
Vatican sources have instead made it known that "it is possible that the Pope will meet the Ukrainian president," without specifying the place or time. The Pontiff has been repeatedly invited to go to Kiev, but he himself has always set the condition of being able to go to Moscow, without however obtaining a response from the Kremlin. The diplomatic work is still going "forward," the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, announced yesterday, speaking of "contacts" and news "at the confidential level." Not even Germany has officially confirmed the visit to Berlin where, according to rumors leaked by a tabloid last week, Zelensky will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday 13 May (the date was later confirmed to ANSA by a police spokeswoman).
Apparently, however, the Ukrainians would not have liked the leak of news and "very sensitive security information". An attitude that Kiev considered "irresponsible", so much so that they questioned the visit itself, while the Berlin police opened an internal investigation to establish how the leak could have occurred. In Germany, moreover, Zelensky could stay on Sunday to receive in Aachen the Charlemagne Prize awarded this year to the Ukrainian people and their president. Demonstrations have been announced in the German city, divided between protests against sending weapons to Ukraine and supporting Zelensky and his resistance against the Russian invader.