Italy to Reopen Its Embassy in Kyiv after Easter

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio affirmed, on Saturday, that Rome will reopen its embassy in Kyiv immediately after Easter.

Di Maio said: "We were the last to leave Kyiv and we will be among the first to go back."

"At the same time we must intensify diplomatic pressure to bring Putin to the negotiating table and reach a cease-fire," he added.

Since February, several countries shut their embassy in Ukraine, calling on their citizens to leave the eastern European country amid rising tension with Russia.

However, Italy has urged the European Union countries to move swiftly on sanctions against Russia, stressing full support for the Ukrainian membership of the European family.

“And now we have to act, all of us, with speed on this point,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi told reporters.

Draghi said Italy, France and Germany were swiftly implementing sanctions against Russian oligarchs, while “others less so”.

“We don’t rule out more sanctions, but we didn’t discuss this (with von der Leyen),” Draghi said.