Italy established a no-fly zone to guarantee the safety of Volodimir Zelensky during his visit to Rome

Law enforcement agencies have gone to extremes security measures in Rome for the visit of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, that this Saturday he will meet with his Italian counterpart, Sergio Matarellaon a trip in which he is also scheduled to meet with the Pope Francisco and the Italian Prime Minister, Giogia Meloni.

The Italian capital is armored, with a thousand agents deployed, a no-fly zone and various sniper teams located in the areas where Zelensky will pass, whose agenda and schedules have not yet been officially communicated, for security reasons, although It is expected that he will begin his meetings with Mattarella and Meloni, and the meeting with Pope Francis will take place in the afternoon.

The impressive security device, which includes tight controls at train stations and airports in the capitalhas anti-terror units, sniffer dogs and bomb squads“and underground controls will also be carried out, with inspections of the sewage networks,” according to the Police headquarters.

It is expected that, after his arrival at the airport of CiampinoZelensky go to the Quirinalheadquarters of the State headquarters, where Mattarella will be received and where no statements will be made to the mediaThey told the news agency EFE Italian Presidency sources.

Later, he will possibly meet with Meloni, a staunch supporter of the European Union to Ukraine and with which Zelensky has always maintained a good relationship, in what will be their second meeting in less than three months after the prime minister’s visit to kyiv last February.

Waiting for the delivery of Samp-T air defense systemfor which Italy has trained Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky could reiterate his request for fighter jets to Romeaccording to local media.

Finally, The Ukrainian president will go to the Vatican to be received by Pope Francisalthough the meeting remains to be officially confirmed by the Holy Seewhich apparently considers the meeting to be private, which may further limit the already scant information about it.

The meeting occurs in the middle of the vatican peace mission announced by the pontiff on the return flight from his recent trip to Hungary and of which the details are not yet known, although a Vatican source has told Russian media that the meeting “is not directly related” to her and that Zelensky requested the meeting with Francis “just a few days ago.”

It will be the first between the two since the war began, although they already know each other because Francis received Zelensky in audience on February 8, 2020 and already on that occasion they talked about “the humanitarian situation and the search for peace” in the context “of the conflict that, since 2014, continues to plague Ukraine.”

(With information from EFE)

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