Zelensky Sarcastically Rebukes Italian PM Who Suggested He Went into Hiding After Missed Call

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Sarcastically rebuked suggestions that he had gone into hiding by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after the two missed a phone call earlier today.

President Zelensky and Prime Minister Draghi were scheduled to speak on the telephone on Friday morning but were unable to connect, leading the Italian Prime Minister to suggest Zelensky had gone into hiding in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

“Yesterday President Zelensky also took part in the European Council, it was a really dramatic moment, he is hidden somewhere in Kyiv and he said that he and Ukraine no longer have time and that he and his family are the object. It was truly a dramatic moment,” Prime Minister Draghi said Friday.

“Today, this morning, he looked for me, we set a telephone appointment for 9:30 but it was not possible to make the phone call because President Zelensky was no longer available,” Draghi added, newspaper Il Giornale reports.

Zelensky took to Twitter to rebuke accusations that he was in hiding sarcastically remarking that next time the Italian leader wanted to talk, he’d reschedule the invasion of his country by Russia to suit them. He wrote: “Today at 10:30 am at the entrances to Chernihiv, Hostomel and Melitopol there were heavy fighting. People died. Next time I’ll try to move the war schedule to talk to Mario Draghi at a specific time. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to fight for its people.”

Italian politician Marco Di Maio moved to give covering fire to the Italian Prime Minister after the spat, however, taking to social media to write that Draghi’s comments were out of concern, not rebuke. He also added, incredibly, that Italy “will support the toughest possible sanctions to counter the criminal Russian invasion”.

Indeed, while Prime Minister Draghi and the Italian government have expressed support for Ukraine against the invasion of its territory by Russian forces, Italy has been reluctant to pressure Russia with severe sanctions in response to the moves of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

This week, Italy was among several European countries, including Germany, who resisted calls to suspend Russia from the SWIFT global payment system, with some arguing that the measure should be a last resort.

Italy, Germany, Austria and other countries that resisted the idea to remove Russia from the SWIFT system are also largely reliant on natural gas supplies from Russia at a time when European gas reserves are usually low.

The Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne, however, has claimed that Europe could get by on existing reserves over the next six weeks as long as temperatures do not drop dramatically, even if Russian deliveries were to halt.

 

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.