>>>ANSA/Meloni satisfied with NATO summit, 'raps' Salvini

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 12 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said she was satisfied with the NATO summit in Washington, at which Italy's proposal for the alliance to have a envoy for its southern flank was discussed.
    She also reiterated Italy's support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion and indirectly chided Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini after he suggested sending military aid to Kyiv was only prolonging the war.
    "The balance sheet of this NATO summit is positive," Meloni told reporters.
    "I'm satisfied, especially about the creation of a special envoy for the southern flank, which we had asked for and for which we will propose our candidate".
    She said the discussions on Ukraine "focused on air-defence systems, which are the best way to defend an nation under attack.
    "I say that also to those from the various quarters who continue to say that, by sending weapons to Ukraine, you feed the war," Meloni said.
    "It depends on what you send because, if we hadn't sent air-defence systems, the missiles would have been launched anyway, hitting many more people.
    "We saw this a few days ago with the Kyiv hospital".
    After having bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish President Andrzej Duda, she also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
    Among other things, the leaders discussed the conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine that Italy will host in June 2025.
    "I informed her about the situation at the front and Russian air terror against Ukrainian cities," Zelensky said via Telegram after the meeting with Meloni.
    "We discussed the main needs of Ukraine, in particular air defence.
    "Thank you because Ukraine's defence capability and reconstruction are being among the priority issues of the Italian G7 presidency this year".
    After arriving in Washington, Meloni said that Italy will get up to defence spending of 2% of GDP as requested by the United States and NATO, according to its own timeframe and financial possibilities, given budget constraints.
    She said that Italy "will keep faith with its commitments" to spend 2% of GDP on defence "obviously with the times and possibilities that we have" and also considering "the country's overall commitment to NATO", where we are "among the largest contributors of personnel in almost all missions and peacekeeping operations because our know-how is in great demand". (ANSA).