Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, cited by RBC-Ukraine, made a comprehensive address to Rome, outlining the areas in which Italy is able to strengthen its support for Kyiv. In his words, Rome has already made a significant contribution to Ukraine's survival throughout the full-scale invasion, but it has the resources to do substantially more — from joint drone production to participation in ensuring the security of the Black Sea.
Assessing Italy's Contribution: 12 Aid Packages and SAMP/T
Budanov listed specific elements of Italian support: twelve packages of military and humanitarian aid, the supply of SAMP/T air-defense missile systems, and the holding of a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction in Rome. He separately emphasized the consistent position of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni both within European institutions and in the bilateral dialogue with Washington. "We appreciate this and will always remember it," said the head of the Presidential Office, adding that Meloni "has always been on Ukraine's side" and did everything to help the country stand firm.
Proposal for Joint Drone Production
The key practical proposal from Budanov was the initiative to create joint drone production. By his logic, Italy has industrial capacity and a technological base, while Ukraine possesses unique combat experience in the use of drones under active war conditions. "This partnership would strengthen both sides," assured the head of the Presidential Office. Against this backdrop, he also reminded of the need to continue work on supplying ammunition for the SAMP/T systems, which remain critically important for Ukraine's air defense.
The Black Sea: Shipping, Air Defense, and Insurance Coverage
A separate block of Budanov's statement was devoted to the security of the Black Sea. He named a number of areas in which Italy and Europe as a whole could make a concrete contribution without increasing the risk of escalation: the protection of shipping, air and anti-ship defense, insurance coverage for merchant vessels, and ensuring the security of maritime corridors. In the view of the head of the Presidential Office, it is in these areas that Rome is able to play a role proportional to its geographic position and naval potential.
European Support as a Condition for Peace, Not an Alternative to It
Concluding the interview, Budanov once again emphasized that European military and economic support for Ukraine is not an alternative to a peaceful settlement, but a necessary condition for achieving it. This formulation, in essence, fixes Kyiv's position: without a sustainable system of deterrence and support from Europe, any negotiations on ending hostilities would be conducted from a position of weakness.
Contradictory Data
In the provided fact-checking sources, no significant discrepancies regarding the content of Budanov's statement were found. Source ID 2 (svpressa.ru) is titled "Budanov Jumped into the Black Sea to Escape Drones" and describes an incident unrelated to the topic of the La Stampa interview; this material neither confirms nor refutes the facts set out in the main article and was excluded from the fact-checking base due to irrelevance. The only minor discrepancy in the original RBC-Ukraine text is a grammatical inconsistency in the gender of the reference to the prime minister (one sentence uses the feminine "was," while another uses the masculine genitive "prime minister"), which does not affect the factual content of the quote.
