PARIS, 23 August. Italy's ambassador to France, Emanuela D'Alessandro, has been summoned to the country's foreign ministry over remarks made by Italian Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini about French President Emmanuel Macron in light of his initiatives in Ukraine, Radio Franceinfo reported.

During his visit to Milan, Salvini categorically ruled out the possibility of Italy sending troops to Ukraine as part of the "coalition of the willing", which was initiated by Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "Italian troops in Ukraine? Absolutely not. If Emmanuel Macron wants it, let him go there himself. Put on your helmet, take your rifle and go [to fight] in Ukraine yourself," the French radio station quoted the Italian politician as saying.

The French foreign ministry dismissed the remarks as "unacceptable" and said in an interview with the ambassador that they were "not in line with the climate of trust and historical relations" between Paris and Rome. Neither the Italian embassy nor the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commented on the summons of the Italian ambassador to the French foreign ministry.

Two meetings on Ukraine took place on 19 August, when the "coalition of the willing" and the European Council met by video call. At both events, they discussed the results of the Russia-US summit in Alaska, US President Donald Trump's talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders, and security guarantees for Ukraine once hostilities end. A day earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow does not accept any scenarios involving the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine that could lead to an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict.

TASS/gnews.cz-jav