"If Giorgia Meloni had been there during the missile attack on Odessa, what would your people have said?"
Volodymyr Zelensky uses national pride to lash out at pro-Russians in Italy - and around the world - and reiterate that Vladimir Putin is a public danger to everyone.
"Would this part of Italian society that does not support Ukraine have remained indifferent? I don't think so", said the president, interviewed by Bruno Vespa, after having thanked the prime minister with whom "we have a very strong relationship" and "the Italian people who support Meloni and Ukraine".
In the interview Zelensky returned to his words about the pro-Putins in Italy pronounced at the press conference for the second anniversary of the war: those who favor the tsar, even in our country, "do not fully understand what war is, they do not feel it on their own skin", said the Ukrainian president, citing the attack that on Wednesday touched his motorcade and that of the Greek prime minister visiting Odessa.
"What would the Italians have said if the missile had fallen near Meloni?", he asked after recalling that the rocket hit "300 meters" from the delegations.
"It's difficult to say who they wanted to hit," Zelensky observed about the real target of the raid.
While on the one hand the Ukrainian diplomatic advisor Ihor Zhovkva stated that "it cannot be ruled out that the blow was aimed at the delegation", on the other hand Dmitry Medvedev confirmed Moscow's line: "It is obvious to everyone" that the attack was not directed at the march, because "otherwise it would have been hit", claimed the super Putin hawk, adding provocatively that nevertheless "it is a shame" that it did not hit the Ukrainian president.
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In any case, "the Greek prime minister was very surprised by the raid, I wasn't", underlined Zelensky before recalling that Moscow tried to kill him "more than ten times, I don't know the exact figure. But everyone in Ukraine, military and civilians , they risk their lives", he highlighted.
As if to say that Odessa is just another episode of an invasion with which Putin will not be satisfied: "Their messages tell us that their objective is not some territories, but is to annex all of Ukraine", he stated the leader.
And if Kiev's defense falls, "Russia will move forward and will certainly attack the NATO countries, and Italy is one of them", he warned, on the day Sweden officially entered the Alliance as the 32nd member.
With these premises, the only way is to fight: a truce "would be a pause" that would allow Putin to "strengthen himself", highlighted Zelensky before addressing "Meloni, Sunak, Macron, Scholz, Biden: aid from these countries , the G7 and all other countries and our friends is necessary and very important to defend international law."
Aid that must urgently translate into modern and adequate weapons: "If we had them, we could change the course of the war" and "respond to the Russian forces who are using long-range weapons on our cities like Kherson. With longer-range weapons we could push them further away", reiterated the Ukrainian leader.
The clash on the ground still remains the only option to outline the fate of the war.
But after weeks of bad news from the front, Zelensky needs results.
In this sense, "I am very hopeful" that the change in Kiev's military leaders can improve the situation on the ground, the president said as the news arrived that the sacked Valery Zaluzhny, former head of the Ukrainian armed forces, has been appointed ambassador to United Kingdom.
Meanwhile Kiev prepares the peace summit in Switzerland based on the Ukrainian peace formula which does not give any territorial concessions to Moscow.
"We are looking for the right date" for the summit, "to ensure that the majority of the world's countries can participate," the Ukrainian president said.
"We very much want an end to the war, but there must be guarantees for a stable and just peace."
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