Italian prime minister: Putin's three-day ceasefire is not enough

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that the three-day truce announced by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is not enough, and that a just and lasting peace is needed.

Meloni said in an interview with Corriere della Sera that Italy supports the efforts of US President Donald Trump and is pleased that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared his readiness for an unconditional ceasefire, demonstrating that Ukraine also wants peace.

"Now Russia must demonstrate the same. After all, the three-day truce announced by Putin on the anniversary of the victory in World War II is something else and is clearly insufficient. Peace must be fair and lasting," Meloni said.

The Italian PM stressed that this primarily means reliable security guarantees.

"Italy has long put forward its proposal: a solution inspired by Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is needed, even beyond the NATO Treaty," Meloni recalled.

Giorgia Meloni is sceptical about the idea of the "reassurance force" mooted by French President Emmanuel Macron in late March and to be deployed in strategically important areas of Ukraine after the war's end.

Giorgia Meloni has previously proposed extending Article 5 of the NATO Treaty to Ukraine without granting it membership in the military alliance which, in her words, would be "a guarantee of stable, lasting and effective security".