Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that Italy is against the idea of sending troops to engage in combat in Ukraine.
“We are not in a state of war with Russia, we are defending Ukraine. And I am personally against sending Italian troops to fight in Ukraine,” the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.
According to the top Italian diplomat, this matter should be tackled very carefully. He called for refraining from give off the “impression that we are fighting against Russia.”
This declaration came in the wake of a proposal made by the French President regarding the potential deployment of forces.
Speaking at a coordination meeting between Italian and Croatian ministers in Zagreb, Tajani highlighted the importance of caution in such discussions, emphasizing that it should not be construed that Italy is entering a conflict with Russia.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out such an option. After a meeting in the Elysee Palace on February 26, Macron said that the participants had looked at sending ground troops to Ukraine.
Although no consensus was reached on this topic, he left the door open for such a scenario in the future.
The Paris conference on Ukraine was attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish President Andrzej Duda and prime ministers from around 20 EU countries.
The United States was represented by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien, and David Cameron represented the United Kingdom.
