ROME – In recent weeks some 20 soldiers from the Kiev army have arrived in Italy to receive training at the Santa Barbara barracks in Sabaudia in the province of Latina, the Ministry of Defence confirmed on Monday.

 Italy, together with France, has promised to deliver the Samp-T system to Kiev by spring, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported on Monday. The Samp-T is a particularly agile anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence system, since it can be mounted on trucks, but requires - like any complex weapon system - specific training.

 The former Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, has attacked Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s government after these revelations: “It is a sign of Italy's increasingly active participation in the conflict,” he told Il Fatto Quotidiano when questioned. “The truth is that step by step, armament after armament, we are finding ourselves totally immersed in this war without our government and Europe attempting a strategy to pursue a path of negotiation to arrive at a solution,” he commented.

 While the new PD secretary Elly Schlein did not wish to comment on the news for the moment, Maurizio Gasparri, of the party Forza Italia which is a partner in the government coalition but has wobbled on Ukraine since its leader Silvio Berlusconi is a friend of Vladimir Putin, highlighted his party’s distinctiveness on the line of military support for Kiev. "I totally support Silvio Berlusconi's position: it would be better to focus more on dialogue. At Forza Italia FI we fought for military aid to remain defensive and we will continue to work on this.”

 Defence experts have said that the opposition and FI remarks seemed off beam as it was always obvious that Ukrainian forces would require training on a complex piece of kit like Samp-T, which will be deployed to defend Ukrainian civilians from Russian missile attacks on Kiev and other cities and has no offensive role.

 With only a few days to go before Meloni faces the European Council on Thursday and Friday, it promises to be a crucial week for the government on the foreign policy front.

 eb