KYIV – Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio had a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledged Italy will continue to support war-torn Ukraine, Italian newspapers reported Friday.

 During the meeting Thursday in Kyiv, Di Maio told the Ukrainian President that Italy will not abandon the Ukrainian people in the conflict with Russia. Di Maio, however, also said that it is essential to seek the diplomatic solutions "in order to find peace and defend democracy."

 "We must hope that nothing changes,” after the Italian election next month, Di Maio added, “that we continue to support this country with all possible strength because Ukraine is the frontier of Europe, it is not only defending itself."

 During his latest visit to Ukraine Di Maio also stopped in the city of Irpin. "Here in Irpin there is a city destroyed, razed to the ground, and in Italy there are still those who deny the facts that occurred at the hands of the Russian troops, by Putin," Di Maio said.

 "The Ukrainians are not only defending themselves but are defending the freedom of all of Europe and we must choose which side to take. As the Italian government, we have chosen to be on the side of the Ukrainian people," he added.

 Di Maio reiterated that Italy will continue to support Ukraine. “We will do it with visits but we must also do it with facts -- we were one of the countries that gave the most aid to the Ukrainian resistance, we have given important financial and humanitarian aid and we must do so even more."

 Di Maio also expressed condolences to Ukraine over the Russian missile attack on a railway station in Czaplin in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, which killed 25 people.

 jp-ak