Italy’s Meloni to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskiy in Brussels on Thursday – source

ROME (Reuters) -Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday in Brussels on the sidelines of a European Council meeting, a government source told Reuters.

The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting, the source said, as EU leaders meet for a two-day gathering to discuss migration and competitiveness issues.

Meloni said last week she planned to visit Kyiv before the Feb. 24 anniversary marking a year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Italian prime minister has also reiterated “full support” for Ukraine several times since taking office last October.

Italy has recently finalised technical talks for the delivery – together with France – of a SAMP/T-MAMBA air defence system to Kyiv in the spring.

Zelenskiy has been in Britain on Wednesday and is expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris on Wednesday evening.

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing Federico Maccioni, editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Keith Weir)