Italy proposed calling on Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow at the EU summit

EU Summit in Brussels. File photoMOSCOW, May 25.Italy, Hungary and Cyprus propose that the final communiqué of the future EU summit contain a clause calling on Ukraine for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks with Russia, Reuters reports, citing diplomatic sources. The next EU summit is to be held on May 30-31. The agency says its staff saw a draft final communiqué dated May 19 that did not mention the need for peace talks.Russia did not receive Italy's plan for a settlement in Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said According to sources, at a meeting of EU envoys on May 20, the Italian ambassador proposed changes to the text regarding peace talks and an immediate ceasefire as one of the EU's primary goals. The proposal was supported by Hungary and Cyprus. A revised draft communiqué is due to be presented later Wednesday after a meeting of EU envoys, the sources said. Rome's La Repubblica newspaper reported last week that Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio handed over a four-point peace plan in Ukraine to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. It provides for a ceasefire, Ukraine's neutrality with international guarantees and an EU accession process, the development of a bilateral agreement between Kyiv and Moscow on territorial issues, and the signing of a new multilateral European security treaty. On Tuesday, Di Maio said that Italy's proposed settlement plan for Ukraine is a «working document», moreover, which is still in its «infancy». Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the Kremlin has not yet seen Italy's proposal and hopes that this plan will be brought through diplomatic channels for familiarization. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.