FILE PHOTO: Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto gestures during an interview with Reuters, in Rome, Italy, December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's defence minister struck a cautious tone on whether Italy would be able to supply Ukraine with air defence systems, as requested by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The systems would be provided "if possible", Guido Crosetto told Il Messaggero newspaper in an article published on Wednesday.
However, "if we give air defence missiles to Ukraine, we must take them from our stocks and we have to do that without depleting them, and being sure about the quality," he added.
Crosetto told Reuters this month that the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defence system was among the military aid that Kyiv had requested from Rome.
His remarks to Il Messaggero follow a Tuesday call between Zelenskiy and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after which Zelenskiy tweeted that Rome was considering supplying air defences.
He is pressing Ukraine's Western allies to step up military aid to help counter three months of Russian missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure.
Under former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy sent five aid packages to Kyiv including military supplies, and Meloni's government is working on a possible sixth delivery.
Meloni, who took office in October, has been a firm supporter of Kyiv, despite friction on the issue within her rightist ruling coalition and a strong pacifist element among domestic public opinion.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by John Stonestreet)
