Regarding Ukraine, the Italian PM: It's time for Europe to have a dialogue with Russia

JAKARTA - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday said that Europe must start talking to Russia about Ukraine and called for the appointment of a special envoy of the European Union to resolve the Ukrainian issue.

"I think it's time for Europe to also talk to Russia. Because if Europe decides to participate in this stage of negotiations only by talking to one side, I'm afraid that in the end our positive contribution will be limited," Meloni said, quoting Antara.

The Italian Prime Minister noted that the problem of Europe is that they have different opinions on the issue of Ukraine.

"That is why I have always advocated the appointment of a European special envoy for the settlement of the Ukrainian problem - someone who will allow us to generalize and speak with one voice," Meloni said.

Since mid-November, the US has been promoting a new peace plan for Ukraine.

On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin received a special envoy of the US Steve Witkoff and son-in-law of the US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, in the Kremlin.

The visit of the US representative to Russia was related to discussing the US peace plan for Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Russia remained open to negotiations and committed to discussions that took place last August during Putin-Trump's meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.

On December 14-15, Berlin hosted negotiations on resolving the Ukrainian conflict, which involved Witkoff, Kushner, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Witkoff later reported progress on a settlement plan consisting of 20 points.

EU leaders then issued a statement on guarantees for Ukraine and steps towards resolving the conflict, including sending multinational forces to the country and maintaining the Ukrainian military at a level of at least 800,000 soldiers.