Italian defence minister opposes sending troops to Ukraine

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said he opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine as that would stand in the way of diplomacy. Source: Crosetto in an interview with La Stampa, as reported by European Pravda Details: "Sending troops to Ukraine would be a step towards unilateral escalation, which would stand in the way of diplomacy.

There is no point thinking about this now, after two years of the war," Crosetto said.

He added that when they say that the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out, France and Poland speak for themselves and not on behalf of the rest of NATO, which has "formally and voluntarily stayed away from the war". Crosetto said that over the course of the past year, Western countries have reached production levels that will help ensure a sustained supply of  weapons for Ukraine, though he admitted that they were still lower than Russia's production levels. "We need to give Kyiv all the support we can, without holding back, but we also have to think about helping Ukrainians reclaim their freedom, territory, and security in another way: by more forcefully and assertively activating diplomatic avenues," Crosetto said.

Commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Crosetto said he hoped that their efforts will result in progress.

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