The Government of Italy intends to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians who are in this country to escape the war in 2025.
This was announced by the Vice Speaker Olena Kondratiuk following a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of Italy Marina Elvira Calderone.
Italy is one of the five EU countries that have sheltered the largest number of internally displaced persons from Ukraine. There are 191 thousand of our citizens under protection in this country.
“The budget for financing the temporary protection programme for 2024 is EUR 274 million. The planned end date of the support is December 2024. It will be extended in the following years, given the decision of the EU Council on temporary protection of Ukrainians until 4 March 2026,” said Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk.
In her turn, Marina Elvira Calderone stressed that Italy, as a G7 country, has provided Ukraine with more than €2 billion in bilateral assistance.
The parties also discussed the terrible consequences of the russian massive missile attack on Europe's largest children's clinic, Okhmatdyt, in Kyiv, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih. In the Ukrainian capital alone, 31 people were killed, including children, and 117 others were injured.
“russia spares no means to harm even children. These are horrific images and we have no choice but to support Ukraine as best we can,” said Minister of Labour and Social Protection Marina Elvira Calderone. She noted that she was frankly shocked by this terror.