Italian Ambassador Summoned to French Foreign Ministry Following Macron's Call for Troops to Ukraine

The Italian ambassador to France, Emanuela Alessandrini, has been summoned to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the criticism from Italy's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Matteo Salvini, regarding French President Emmanuel Macron's position on sending European troops to Ukraine. This was reported by France Inter.

During a visit to Milan, Salvini rejected the possibility of Italy sending its troops to Ukraine under the 'volunteers coalition' initiative proposed by Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 'If Emmanuel Macron wants that, let him go there. Put on a helmet, take a gun, and go to Ukraine yourself,' the politician stated.

A diplomatic source told France Inter that the French Foreign Ministry informed the Italian ambassador that such statements contradict the atmosphere of trust and the historically formed relations between the two countries. Words like these undermine 'recent bilateral events that have clearly demonstrated strong rapprochement between the two countries, especially regarding their continued support for Ukraine,' the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added.

In turn, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized Macron's proposal to send a European peacekeeping force to protect Ukraine. 'Russia has 1.3 million soldiers. How many soldiers do we need to send to solve the problem? If one of our soldiers dies, will we pretend that nothing happened, or will we have to respond?' the government leader expressed her position.

Meanwhile, Moscow opposes any military assistance to Kyiv and the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine. However, Russia is prepared to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned that foreign troops, if introduced to Ukraine, would become a legitimate military target for the Russian army.