Rome, 17 December (LaPresse) – "Moscow is conveying unreasonable demands to its interlocutors, the main one concerning the portion of Donbass not conquered by the Russians. Contrary to what propaganda would have us believe, the main obstacle to a peace agreement is Russia's inability to conquer the four Ukrainian regions that it unilaterally declared annexed at the end of 2022, even including them in the Russian Constitution as an integral part of its territory. This gamble has led to the paradoxical situation that territories formally included in the Constitution of the Russian Federation are now under Ukrainian control. Hence Russia's demand that Ukraine withdraw from at least the entire Donbass region. This is clearly the most difficult obstacle to overcome in the negotiations today, and I think we should all recognise the good faith of the Ukrainian President, who has gone so far as to propose a referendum to settle this dispute, a proposal that has been rejected by Russia'. These were the words of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during her address to Parliament ahead of the European Council.