Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Monday stressed that Russia's forces were not in Ukraine by mistake after US President Donald Trump suggested Moscow may have made some sort of an error regarding Sunday's attack on the city of Sumy that killed 34 people, including some children.
While calling the attack a "horrible thing", Trump added that it had been a "mistake".
"I don't know what the nature (of the Sumy attack) was, but the Russians did not decide to invade Ukraine, violating all the rules of international law, by mistake," Tajani said.
"When you wage war and unleash attacks of this kind, mistakes can occur, but they are unacceptable, because they are part of an overall strategy - we are still talking about an attack on Ukraine.
"And even if they had wanted to bomb another area, it would still have been part of the aggression.
"Ukraine said it was ready to engage in dialogue.
"It seems to me that Russia does not want to engage in this dialogue if it continues to attack and wants to prolong a war that it provoked, because the war was provoked by Russia.
"So what happened yesterday is unacceptable because it is part of an unacceptable aggression against a free independent country".
Premier Giorgia Meloni condemned the attack as "horrible and cowardly" pointing out that it took place on Palm Sunday and resulted in "innocent civilian victims, sadly including also children.
"I firmly condemn these unacceptable acts of violence, which contradict any real efforts towards peace, being advanced by President Trump and strongly supported by Italy together with Europe and other international partners," Meloni said.
"I express my most sincere condolences for the victims, to their families and all Ukrainian people. We will continue to work to stop this barbarity".
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