Ukraine: Don't have elements to verify genocide - Di Maio

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - Italy does not have "elements" to verify whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine as stated by United States President Joe Biden, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Friday.
    "Italy does not have the elements to assess whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine but the atrocities are evident, like the children killed and the civilians killed," he told Radio24.
    "We have called on the International (Criminal) Court (to assess atrocity evidence against Russia)".
    Di Maio added that Italy expects the conflict to intensify in eastern Ukraine where Russian President Valdimir Putin has said Moscow troops are bidding to take over the Donbass region.
    Di Maio stressed the importance of reviving the stalled peace process.
    "We must stop the escalation, stop the war in Ukraine. We must revive the process of dialogue between Ukraine and Russia.
    "(Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky has made important overtures, now it is Putin who must speak.
    "Let's hope that at least the Orthodox Easter, which falls a week after ours, (on April 24) may be an opportunity to convince the Russian to (agree to) a ceasefire.
    "We are working on it because it is the only way to evacuate from eastern Ukraine, where the attacks are intensifying, the civilians, empty the orphanages, send the children away, away from the Russian bombs." The foreign ministry said the Italian embassy would be once more operational in Kyiv after Easter.
    "We will spend Easter working to bring back the Italian ambassador to Kyiv in safety and security," Di Maio told Radio 24.
    "Immediately after Easter (the embassy) will be fully operational and it will be another signal to say that we are close to the Ukrainian institutions", the foreign minister told the Italian radio station.
    Di Maio went on: "We must build humanitarian corridors. The more talks increase, the more corridors will increase too.
    "I understand that Putin is not giving signals of peace when he says that they must complete operations.
    "For this reason we must continue with sanctions. If food products cost more in Italy today it is because the Ukrainian ships are no longer leaving with supplies to replenish stocks," he said.
    Di Maio added that the Baltic States felt threatened and that Italy cannot submit to blackmail over paying roubles for Russian gas. (ANSA).