In fact, the Italian prime minister used the meeting to restate Rome’s firm backing of Kyiv, emphasizing Italy’s support for a “just peace” and rejecting any suggestion that Ukraine should capitulate.
Russian outlets claim that, during Volodymyr Zelensky’s European tour, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni privately pressed the Ukrainian president to surrender, citing an article published by The European Conservative as their source.
This episode follows a familiar playbook: Russian media lifted an opinion piece from a Western outlet and recast an analyst’s interpretation as if it were a verbatim statement by a sitting head of government.
The European Conservative article, in turn, paraphrases reporting from the Italian press. It claims that Meloni told Zelensky that “public opinion is tired,” that “solutions must be found to end the conflict quickly,” and that she urged Kyiv to weigh the benefits of a ceasefire against what Ukrainians would see as capitulation. But the Il Sole 24 Ore piece cited as the source contains no such direct quotation and does not attribute any call for surrender to the Italian leader. Instead, the article offers the author’s interpretation of the role Meloni sought to play in the meeting—rather than a verbatim account of her remarks.
The passage frames Meloni’s stance as a more measured echo of pressure attributed to Washington rather than a call for surrender. It characterizes her position as urging Kyiv to soften what it describes as an inflexible approach, weigh the advantages of a truce against the costs Ukrainians would view as capitulation, and focus on securing credible guarantees—above all, security assurances anchored in NATO’s Article 5. Read in full, the text does not support claims that Meloni urged capitulation; instead, it reflects an interpretation of diplomatic positioning centered on ceasefire dynamics and security guarantees, not on yielding to Russia.
Readouts from the Dec. 9, 2025, meeting strike a markedly different tone from the claims circulating in Russian media. According to the official statements, the two leaders “analyzed the course of the negotiation process,” with Meloni emphasizing a “shared determination to pursue any diplomatic path to build a just and lasting peace that respects the rights of Ukrainian citizens and the security of the continent.” Nowhere in the formal accounts is there any reference to capitulation or to accepting Moscow’s terms. On the contrary, Meloni reiterated Italy’s unwavering support for Ukraine, underscoring continuity rather than a shift in Rome’s position.
Earlier, StopFake also dismantled a separate false narrative alleging that opinion polls had shown Europe to be opposed to peace in Ukraine—a claim unsupported by the data and amplified through the same disinformation channels.
