Italian Deputy PM Challenges Macron To Bring Rifles To Ukraine, Makes France Angry

JAKARTA - France summoned Italy's ambassador after the deputy prime minister of Italy challenged French president Emmanuel Macron for proposing deployment of European troops in Ukraine in a postwar settlement.

When asked earlier this week to comment on President Macron's call to placing European troops in Ukraine, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini uses the phrase Milan dialect which can be freely translated as "far away".

"Tell me to go there if you want. Wear your helmet, shower your rifle, and go to Ukraine," he told reporters, referring to Macron.

Salvini, the leader of the far-right Liga party and also the Italian transport minister in the conservative nationalist government led by Giorgia Meloni, has repeatedly criticized Macron, especially regarding Ukraine.

The Italian ambassador was summoned on Friday, the diplomatic source said, marking the latest diplomatic dispute between Paris and Rome before and after Meloni came to power in 2022.

"The Ambassador is reminded that this statement contradicts the climate of trust and historical relations between our two countries, as well as the latest bilateral developments, which have highlighted the strong convergence between the two countries, particularly regarding unshakable support for Ukraine," the source said.

Macron, Ukraine's vocal supporter of the war with Russia, has teamed up with other world leaders, especially British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to mobilize support for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.