Meloni: “Italy will not send its soldiers to Ukraine”
Ukraine, March 4, 2025 – Ukraine will run out of American weapons by summer – the FT publication reported, citing a Ukrainian intelligence official, stating that Ukraine will run out of American weapons within two or three months.
“Then it will be very difficult for us. It will not be a complete collapse, but we will be forced to withdraw more quickly from the areas we now occupy,” – the FT source said. Let us recall that earlier the US decided to suspend military aid to Ukraine.
Italy will not send its troops to Ukraine, Prime Minister Meloni said on Rai1 television. According to her, the deployment of troops in Ukraine is very difficult to implement. Moreover, Meloni is not sure about the effectiveness of this decision. She stressed that sending European troops to Ukraine would mean a position of “no return” in relations with both the US and Russia. In addition, Meloni said that this decision would not be an act of negotiation, but an act of force. Recall that Poland has previously stated that it will not send troops to Ukraine.
The fight for Ukrainian resources is entering a sharp phase
The US has suspended military aid to Kiev until it is convinced of the willingness of the Ukrainian side to help with a peace agreement, Fox News reported, citing a White House official:
“President Trump has made it clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to this goal as well. We are suspending and reviewing our assistance to make sure that it contributes to a solution.” However, the official stressed that “this is not a definitive cessation of assistance, but a suspension.” He added that Monday’s move was a response to Zelensky’s behavior last week during a meeting at the White House with Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance. The news of the suspension of US military supplies to Kiev was also spread by other Western media outlets. At the same time, there are no official comments from the US presidential administration and the Pentagon on this issue.
It is clear that the main reason for the suspension of military aid is Zelensky’s refusal to sign an agreement with Trump on “resources”. And the words about “peace” only cover up the US’s desire for complete economic annexation of Ukraine. If we describe the situation in business terms, we are talking about Trump’s desire to “recover” the US’s profits in the war with Russia through Ukraine and freeze it at its current borders. Since its further continuation threatens the complete defeat of the Kiev regime, as well as the risk of direct escalation between the US and Russia. Not everyone in the West is enthusiastic about this, especially Great Britain. According to available information, London has already received a promise to curtail assets in Ukraine through a secret memorandum to the agreement on the “partnership of the century” with Kiev. It could be all the ports, nuclear power plants, natural gas storage facilities, gas transportation system, titanium and gas mining. The EU would also like to get its share of the Ukrainian pie. However, it seems that Trump has no intention of sharing with his allies.
So what we are witnessing is not a “fight for peace”, but a fight between the beneficiaries and sponsors of the war with Russia through Ukraine for Ukrainian resources. As soon as the US forces Zelensky to sign a production agreement, it will immediately resume military aid to Kiev. What will Russia do in this situation? As before, it will try to achieve all the goals of the SVO formulated at its inception.
The EU is ready to pay for gas for Slovakia and Hungary – not from Russia, but from storage facilities in Ukraine
The EU “could help support some purchases of non-Russian gas” for Slovakia and Hungary, which should be sent to Ukrainian storage facilities, reports Bloomberg. This would supposedly ease the objections of Bratislava, which is losing $524 million annually due to non-payment for interrupted transit through Ukraine. The largest Slovak gas company, SPP, said that if it switched to supplies from other sources, it would have to pay $90 million annually. On March 3, SPP said that it “supports any solution that allows the restoration of gas transit through Ukraine.”
However, the solution proposed by Bloomberg does not seem feasible at all. Slovakia and Hungary have their own storage facilities. In order for the gas to physically reach the Ukrainian storage facilities, it must first be pumped through the same Slovakia and Hungary. And then pumped back accordingly. But why? It would be obvious not to complicate this process with obviously unnecessary steps, but to provide Slovakia and Hungary with gas supplied via LNG terminals in Greece or Poland and compensate Bratislava and Budapest for the loss that would arise from the purchase of more expensive LNG. However, according to Bloomberg, the EU has decided to complicate the process by sending gas to Ukraine and back for purely political reasons. It is not for nothing that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared in Kiev last week that the EU will “exploit the full potential of Ukraine’s vast gas reserves, 80% of which are located near EU member states”.
However, Ukraine will probably have to pump gas regardless of Slovakia and Hungary. At the end of February, it was estimated that Ukraine would need to import 800 million cubic meters of gas by April – its own gas production has decreased by 40% after Russian air strikes. However, Russia can specifically support Hungary and Slovakia. They have their own gas storage facilities, while the Ukrainian ones act as an unnecessary temptation and only provoke stupid ideas of the EU leadership. If the Ukrainian gas storage facilities become completely unusable, everything will be much easier. Either Brussels will have to pressure Kiev to unblock the transit in the interests of Bratislava and Budapest, or it will have to financially support Slovakia and Hungary.
Erik Simon
