Foreign minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday underlined Italy's unwavering support for Ukraine in its 25-month-old war with invader Russia, but continued to rule out sending troops to the former Soviet republic.
"We have decided at European Union level to use interest on assets seized from Russian tycoons to help Ukraine," Tajani told the 'Start' Sky Tg24 programme.
"We will continue to support Kiev, but no Italian soldiers will go to fight in Ukraine," Tajani said, underlining earlier pledges.
The EU must have "an efficient defence system" in order to have more clout in Nato, Tajani argued.
"We back the use of Eurobonds to fund security in Europe," he reaffirmed.
"We must have an efficient defence system in Europe to count more in Nato - not to be an alternative to it," Tajani said.
Italy must aim to reach Nato's target of spending at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2028, Tajani stressed.
"We need to get to 2 percent of NATO spending, which also includes everything we spend on numerous missions," he said.
