Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, will visit Kyiv on Monday to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, a political source said on Sunday.
Meloni, who assumed office in October, had previously stated that she intended to travel to Kiev before the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year on February 24.
Meloni has been a steadfast defender of Ukraine despite disagreements on the subject within her rightist government coalition and divided public opinion.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the head of the conservative Forza Italia party, a member of Meloni's coalition, declared last week that if Zelenskiy were still in charge of the government, he would not seek a meeting with him because he holds the Ukrainian President responsible for the conflict with Russia.
Due to Berlusconi's comments towards Ukraine, the European People's Party (EPP), of which Forza Italia is a member, said on Friday that it was postponing an event that was set to take place in Naples in June.One of the founding members of Forza Italia, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, announced on Saturday that he had met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba outside of a Group of Seven conference in Munich to reassure him of Italy's support.
The supply of an upgraded air defence system to Kiev in the spring has recently been finalised through negotiations between Italy and France.
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