Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on his arrival in Rome on Saturday, May 13, an audience with Pope Francis after meetings with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
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Today in Rome. I am meeting with the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni and the Pope. An important visit to get closer to Ukraine's victory," Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
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Italy welcomes the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. We renew our commitment alongside the Ukrainian people, in defense of freedom and democracy," tweeted Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
The visit of the Ukrainian president will take place under high security, many police patrols circulating in the city while bikers of the police wait parked at strategic street corners, AFP found. Snipers have also been deployed on rooftops and a ban on overflying the city, including for unauthorized drones, has been decreed.
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The 86-year-old pope, who already welcomed Zelensky to the Vatican in February 2020, has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and prays for his victims almost every week during his general audience. Last month, he met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, who invited him to Ukraine and asked for his help in the return of children forcibly taken to Russia. This Saturday, receiving ambassadors at the Vatican, the pope again recalled "the war in Ukraine that brings unspeakable suffering and death."
The Ukrainian president will meet midday Giorgia Meloni who visited Kiev in February to confirm Italy's support for Ukraine, despite the close ties the peninsula had with Russia before its invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022. "I wanted (to come to Kiev) to reiterate Italy's full support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, and to reaffirm that Italy has no intention of weakening," Meloni said at the time during a press conference with Zelensky.