ahead of an audience with pope francis. trumpets play this was the moment he arrived at the prime minister s residence in rome. later he ll be meeting the italian prime minister giorgia meloni, and also travel to the vatican. a huge security operation has been launched, with over 1,000 police deployed and a no fly zone over rome. president zelensky is then due to travel to germany, and in the past few hours we ve heard that germany has pledged nearly $3 billion of military to ukraine. that s the biggest aid package from italy yet. that s the biggest aid package from germany yet. but back to italy first. let s cross to the newsroom now and talk to our europe regional editor correspondent paul moss. why has zelensky travel to rome? he s trying to shore up political support and military aid for his country but it s an interesting case. 0n the one hand the prime minister, meloni, has been very vocal with their support of ukraine. but on the other hand you have to look at who else
Anti missiles assistance. a lot of hardware. it s politically clear, germany is saying supporting ukraine militarily. let s remember that ukraine are saying they still want more hardware, more fighterjets, which most countries are reluctant to hand over. thank you, paul. mr zelensky s visit to italy comes as russia has carried out a new wave of air strikes on kyiv and other cities overnight. the authorities say the military intercepted all drones directed at the capital. but in the southern city of mykolaiv, three people were injured in attacks. and in the western city of khmelnytsky, critical infrastructure as well as residential and government buildings were hit. the latest russian strikes come as ukrainian forces say they have made progress near the eastern city of bakhmut. 0ur correspondent hugo
Bachega is in kyiv. russia carried out another wave of air strikes on ukrainian cities overnight. and at the ukrainian military says that 21 drones were fired by russia. iranian made drones that russia has been using to attack towns and cities. one of the targets was the region in the west of the country where civilian infrastructure was hit. this is a transport hub in the west of ukraine. the authorities say at least 11 people were injured in that part of the country. 0ne city was also hit and at least three people were injured, the city of mykolaiv. ukraine says it has made some gains around the city of bakhmut, a key target for russian forces in the east of the country. yesterday, the russian defence ministry seemed to acknowledge that ukrainian forces have made some
Transcripts for BBCNEWS BBC News 20240604 11:30:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bottles of vodka from vladimir putin as a birthday present and they d exchanged sweet letters. but in italy there s also support for russia. many italians are against sending aid to ukraine. and they won t say what has been sent. presumably the prime minister does not wish to alienate her voters by saying what they have done. i will imagine that president zelensky will be trying to win over some supporters from the italian people and his own political class. mr zelensky s also taking time out to meet the pope. a very interesting visit. some say the pope has had a nuanced and balanced view but others say he s not said enough to support ukraine.