Ukraine calls for unity after Italian PM tells prank callers of war fatigue
Giorgia Meloni's unwitting admission will 'please Russia'
Leading politicians in Ukraine have appealed for continued support after the Italian prime minister accidentally disclosed that European leaders were growing weary of the conflict.
Giorgia Meloni has expressed "regret" after falling victim to a prank call from two Russian comedians during which she said "there is a lot of fatigue" and "everybody understands that we need a way out".
The call was made in September by Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, better known as comedians Vovan and Lexus, who pretended to be officials from the African Union. A recording of the prank call was published this week on the online platform Rumble.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meloni has previously said that Italy will continue to back Ukraine, "even if it affects the approval rating of the government", said Sky News. But the "ongoing conflict is proving difficult to support". A poll in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera showed that 45% of Italians were against sending weapons to Ukraine, with 34% in favour.
Her "talk of war fatigue will please Russia, which is counting on dwindling enthusiasm among Kyiv's western allies", said The Times. But Oleksandr Merezhko, сhairman of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on foreign policy, told Politico that abandoning Ukraine "would cost Europe and the world very dearly" by "throwing Europe and the world security system back to the 19th century".
Europe "should be tired of Russia, not of Ukraine", added Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a Ukrainian MP and chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Integration of Ukraine to the EU.
This is not the first time the Russian comedians have successfully pranked a public figure. In 2018 they held an 18-minute phone call with Boris Johnson after claiming to be the Armenian prime minister. In 2015 they convinced Elton John he was having a conversation with Vladimir Putin.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France's Macron vows to finish out term
Speed Read French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to step down and said he will name a new government in the coming days
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - December 6, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - bodyguard backlog, Biden's blunder, and more
By The Week US Published
-
South Korea roiled by short-lived martial law
Speed Read President Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law was a 'clear violation of the constitution,' said the opposition parties who have moved to impeach him
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Syrian rebels seize Aleppo in surprise offensive
Speed Read The rebels made gains against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and reignited Syria's 13-year-old civil war
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Putin's fixation with shamans
Under the Radar Secretive Russian leader, said to be fascinated with occult and pagan rituals, allegedly asked for blessing over nuclear weapons
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published