Italy fully supports Turkiye's mediation efforts between Russia, Ukraine

ROME

Italy fully supports Turkiye's mediation efforts between Russia and Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“Turkiye is not only a NATO ally, but it is also an important country for the dialogue to bring the parties to a peace agreement at this stage,” Luigi Di Maio told reporters after an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, the bloc’s de facto capital.

He said Italy “fully supports” the negotiations that Turkiye has brought forward.

Saying that he met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Maio added that they discussed how the negotiations were going.

Maio said this week’s NATO leaders' summit and EU leaders' summit, also set to be attended by US President Joe Biden, are important for showing that NATO and the EU are united on the Ukraine war.

Saying that establishing a general cease-fire in Ukraine is difficult, he added that Italy conveyed to the EU its request that the bloc take the initiative on a regional cease-fire for the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of essential supplies to besieged areas.

Italy is also fully open to a fifth package of sanctions against Russia, he said, adding that they are waiting for the EU Commission proposal on the issue.

According to UN estimates, at least 925 civilians have been killed and nearly 1,500 others injured in Ukraine since Russia began its attack on its western neighbor on Feb. 24.

The hostilities have also driven 10 million people from their homes either internally or as refugees abroad, according to the UN refugee agency.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara