As President Joe Biden of the United States of America and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visit Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to speak about the one-year Russia-Ukraine war in his State of the Nation address on Tuesday.
According to the BBC, Putin is likely to portray the war as a struggle against the West in his speech in order to gain domestic support.
The speech, which the Russian President postponed in December 2022, comes ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which takes place on Friday, 2022. The country has suffered significant losses in Ukraine, but a new offensive is expected to begin in the spring.
Meanwhile, Putin’s speech comes as US President Biden and Italian Prime Minister Meloni pay a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Biden, who is scheduled to deliver a speech in Poland later today, visited Kyiv on Monday and stated that the Russia-Ukraine war is a struggle between democracy and autocracy, while President Zelensky stated that he could see US resolve to end Russian aggression this year.
According to the BBC, there have been rumors that Italy is ready to send Ukraine fighter jets, though any such decision would have to be coordinated with the rest of the EU.
Despite recent controversial statements by the leaders of two parties in her government coalition, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Meloni will most likely want to reassure President Zelensky that Italy stands by Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.