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Kyiv has allies in the West that want to see her diligently negotiate with Russia over an end to the war, the Italian Defense Minister said recently at a summit of NATO ministers.
Minster Guido Crosetto suggeted that the counterattack launched by Ukraine did not achieve the desired outcome, and that both sides are sending signals that negotiation is still an option despite an ongoing bitter winter of trench warfare and bombing of civilians.
“From this perspective … it would seem that the time has come for incisive diplomacy, alongside military support, because there are a number of important signals coming from both sides,” Crosetto said. “With determination, Italy supports every action that favors the opening of a diplomatic exchange to the end of arriving at a negotiable solution”.
“In Ukraine, the domestic front appears to be no longer as united as in the past in supporting President Zelenskyy’s policy, highlighting some divergences in the political discourse”.
Crosetto added that it’s becoming more common to hear Russian President Vladimir Putin and others among his allies referencing openness to discourse in recent weeks, and that this has to be taken into consideration “not only of Russia with Ukraine, but also with Western countries”.
The comments come shortly after the German news outlet Der Spiegel ran a feature story claiming that talks were ongoing between senior German and US cabinet members over how best to conclude the war in a timely manner that saves face.
Crosetto, a senior member in the ruling Brothers of Italy party that seized power last year, also practiced some face saving, saying that the “full territorial integrity and recognized borders of Ukraine remain the goal of the entire international community,” even though that is a well-publicized dealbreaker from the Kremlin’s standpoint.
Nevertheless, Crosetto is now the first defense minister from the five largest EU economies to urge openly for peace talks in the post-counteroffensive period. Italy has contributed €3.4 billion in financial assistance and one complete SAMP-T missile defense system, along worth half a billion euro. However, the Brothers of Italy have sent precious little, if any, Italian owned or operated weapons or ammunition to Kyiv.
This makes Italy more ideally positioned to call for an end to the violence then Germany or the UK, who have both flooded the country with the munitions that have prolonged it until this point. Having not armed the Ukrainians, a reasonable shift to promoting dialogue also doesn’t outrightly appear to domestic constituents like a policy reversal.
After long-publicizing the upcoming success of their counteroffensive, the Ukraine Defense Forces took all the new weaponry they had received in January of 2023 and launched it into the teeth of the Russian defenders who obliterated them and it. The conflict has degraded into trench warfare and relentless drone bombing. The Russian military is launching more missile attacks on cities, and citizens of major cities like Kyiv aren’t sure if the patriot missile defense systems given to them by the Americans are working still.
After Israel’s slaughter in Gaza started on October 9th, attention has been diverted away from Ukraine, and a total of $111 billion worth of military and financial aid packages from the EU and US has been held up by internal political affairs. WaL
PICTURED ABOVE: Defense Minister Guido Crosetto addresses Parliament. PC: screengrab from parliament camera feed.
