Italian PM Meloni pledges unwavering support to Ukraine, says India and China can help resolve conflict with Russia

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who recently met Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, has pledged unwavering support while adding that India and China can play a role in resolving the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Meloni on Sep 7, met the Ukrainian President on the sidelines of the annual TEHA business forum on Lake Como, where they discussed Kyiv's plans to end the war with Russia and its reconstruction efforts.

"Actors like China and India can and must play a role in resolving the conflict," Meloni was quoted as saying.

"What must not happen is to think that the conflict can be resolved by abandoning Ukraine to its fate," she added.

Meloni affirmed that Italy would never cease its support for Ukraine as the decision was aimed at safeguarding rules designed to protect a country's national integrity, she said.

"It's a choice that won't change," she said, adding that, “the only thing that cannot happen is to think that the conflict can be solved by abandoning Ukraine.”

Meloni's statement came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that India, Brazil and China could be the intermediaries that may help in resolving the conflict.

Meanwhile, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier said that China should stop supporting Russia's war in Ukraine. He asserted that Beijing's assistance has acted as a significant factor in the continuation of the war.

"With an invasion, you don't have peace talks, you don't need a negotiating table. The need for it emerges, if anything, with a stalemate ... the stalemate that we have contributed to creating," she said.

Zelenskyy on Sep 6 said that Ukraine needed the full support of its allies so that it is in a strong position for any future negotiations with Russia.

Taking to X, Zelenskyy said, he discussed peace plans and reconstruction strategy with a focus on Ukraine's energy system with Meloni.