Italy said it would be premature to join the bloc’s arms initiative amid ongoing peace talks
Italy will not join the NATO initiative to buy US weapons for Ukraine while peace negotiations are underway, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said.
The EU has renewed its push to finance additional arms deliveries to Kiev amid signals from Washington that it will seek a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.
”We hope no more weapons will be needed in the coming months… if a ceasefire comes,” Tajani said on Wednesday, as cited by Italian media.
Rome had earlier expressed their readiness to join NATO’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, under which the bloc’s members fund weapons based on a wishlist drafted by Kiev. Italy is the first EU country to openly question whether Ukraine should receive more weapons while ceasefire talks are ongoing, Bloomberg noted.
The US has renewed its push for a settlement, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hosting White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Tuesday. Putin described the discussions as “necessary” and “useful,” though he said parts of Washington’s proposal were unacceptable. US President Donald Trump said the envoys left Moscow confident that both sides want to end the conflict.
Italy has backed Ukraine since 2022, however tensions have grown within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition recently over further support. Her deputy Matteo Salvini has argued that supplying more weapons will not end the conflict and could fuel further corruption in Ukraine, referring to the recent graft scandal rocking Vladimir Zelensky’s government.
Several other EU states, including Spain, Portugal and Hungary, resisted new military packages this year, citing concerns over an escalation and the burden on national budgets.
Despite the divisions, the European Commission is pressing ahead with plans to continue arming Ukraine, including through EU-level borrowing and a contested ‘reparations loan’ backed by frozen Russian assets.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, arguing they prolong the fighting without altering its outcome. Putin said last month that EU leaders exaggerate the threat posed by Russia to justify higher military spending and channel public funds into the arms industry.
