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Polish, Italian FMs discuss support for Ukraine

18.10.2024 17:00
Poland's top diplomat Radosław Sikorski and his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani discussed joint efforts to support Ukraine when they met in Rome on Thursday, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.Photo: PAP/Szymon Pulcyn

During the meeting, Sikorski and Tajani also talked about European defence and security policies, migration and plans for enlarging the European Union, the Polish foreign ministry said.

While in Rome on Thursday and Friday, Sikorski called for broader Western assistance to Ukraine, especially increased supplies of air defence weapons, according to the Polish foreign ministry.

He also advocated for allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike deep into Russia in its defence against Moscow's invasion, it said.

Sikorski told Tajani that one of the priorities of Poland's rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of next year would be stepping up efforts for the EU to admit Ukraine as well as Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkans.

Tajani thanked Sikorski "for his proposal that they tour Africa together during the Polish Presidency of the EU Council," the Polish foreign ministry also said.

It added that "Africa is too important a continent to be left alone in facing Russia and China’s influence."

At the end of his visit to Italy, Sikorski "visited the Polish War Cemetery and paid tribute to the Polish soldiers who had lost their lives in the victorious Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944," the Polish foreign ministry said on social media.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, starting the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

Friday is day 968 of Russiawar on Ukraine.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl