Italy’s premier to lead G7 leaders' videoconference meeting from Kyiv

ROME (AA) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went to Ukraine's capital Kyiv to lead the G7 Leaders' Summit via video conference on the 2nd anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war on Saturday.

Meloni, who will chair the G7 Presidency for 2024, will hold the first leaders' meeting of her presidency via video conference in Ukraine.

Meloni arrived in Kyiv on Saturday morning with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to the Italian ANSA agency.

The leaders' visit was officially announced Saturday morning for security reasons.

They will attend some commemoration ceremonies on the 2nd anniversary of the war.

The G7 Leaders' Summit is set to be held on Saturday in Kyiv under the presidency of Meloni and to be hosted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with other G7 leaders participating via video conference.

Ursula von der Leyen and Trudeau will join Meloni at the summit.

The leaders of the US, Germany, France, the UK, and Japan are expected to join the summit via video conference.

Before going to Kyiv, Meloni told her country's daily Il Giornale that she wanted to lead the G7 Leaders' Summit from Kyiv on the 2nd anniversary of the war.

"Italy, Europe and the West must continue to stand by Kiev. Defending Ukraine does not mean loving war, in fact quite the opposite. It means preventing war, defending our national interests and preventing the definitive disintegration of the rules-based international system,” she said.

Referring to comments that European public opinion is tired of the war in Ukraine, Meloni said: “The desire for peace of our citizens is sacred and I understand it very well. The war in Ukraine concerns us all and affects us closely."

“Ending the war and building a just and lasting peace is the goal of all of us. We should spend all our energy in this direction. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can be persuaded to sit down at the negotiating table if the balance of forces on the ground is restored,” she added.

*Writing by Zeynep Cetin in Istanbul