Italy will not make a decision on supplying Ukraine with new weapons until February due to political tensions, financial problems and military shortages, Italian daily La Repubblica reported on Monday, as cited by Reuters and Agerpres.

Two weeks ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that Rome was considering sending air defense systems after a discussion with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, during which she confirmed her government’s “full support” for Ukraine.

Soon after, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto expressed more caution about Italy’s ability to supply Ukraine with air defense systems.

La Repubblica reports, citing unspecified sources, that Meloni, a staunch supporter of Kyiv, is facing resistance to approving a decree to send arms to Ukraine from her far-right allies Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi.

Both politicians have long-standing ties with Moscow, Reuters comments.

But sources from the two parties – Salvini’s League and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia – denied on Monday that they had any problem with the decree.

So far, Italy has sent five aid packages to Ukraine

Another obstacle to the decision is concern that the Italian army could be left without air defense systems, as two of its five missile batteries are already deployed in Kuwait and Slovakia, La Repubblica reported.

The third concern, according to the newspaper, is the cost of the weapons to be sent to Kyiv.

Zelensky is pressuring Ukraine’s Western allies to add military support to counter Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Italy sent five aid packages, including military equipment, to Kyiv under former prime minister Mario Draghi, and Maloney’s government, appointed in October, has been working for weeks on a possible sixth delivery.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro