Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has rejected the idea of deploying troops in Ukraine, after France and the UK proposed sending peacekeepers to secure an eventual truce between Kiev and Moscow.

Meloni expressed her opposition during an address to the upper house of the Italian parliament on Tuesday, ahead of a European Council meeting in Brussels this week expected to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

France and the UK have been leading efforts to form a “coalition of the willing,” with French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting that “a few thousand troops per country” would be deployed at key locations in Ukraine.

Meloni said the Italian government respected the proposal but was not “convinced” by it.

“Sending Italian troops to Ukraine is a topic that has never been on the agenda,” Meloni told the Senate, as cited by la Repubblica.

The prime minister went on to describe the Franco-British proposal as “a very complex, risky and ineffective option.” She also stated that Italy supported the peace-making effort launched by US President Donald Trump.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea of soldiers from NATO countries being stationed in Ukraine, warning it could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led military bloc.

Paris and London have been rushing to consolidate military support for Ukraine as the US pushes for a peace deal with Russia. Washington has recently proposed a 30-day ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he supported Washington’s truce proposal in principle, but said that several crucial conditions had to be met first.

Putin and Trump held a lengthy phone conversation on Tuesday, the second such call in just over a month, in an effort to advance a peace settlement in Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/614429-italy-rejects-ukraine-troop-deployment/

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilHwcfHrrT8

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó sharply criticized the European Union on Tuesday, branding a proposed 20 billion euro arms package for Ukraine as a "scandalous" misuse of European funds that risks prolonging the war. Speaking after an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, Szijjártó also denounced as "unacceptable" Ukraine’s dismissal of Hungarian minority rights concerns in Transcarpathia as an "artificial problem," accusing the EU of endorsing Kyiv’s stance to fast-track its membership bid. Hungary, he said, would not support the arms funding or any moves extending the conflict, advocating instead for U.S.-Russia peace talks, in a stance that deepens Budapest’s rift with Brussels.

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