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Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni chose to invite the Group of Seven to celebrate the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as she seeks to avoid the anger of President Donald Trump while he was imprisoned in a bitter row with Kiev.

Trump’s defeated statements about Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski, who is It is called “dictator”Washington refused to describe Russia that the aggressor had shocked European officials-and has so far received the traditional G7 offer to support Ukraine on February 24, when Moscow began the full invasion three years ago.

Although Meloni’s office was martyred in a struggle for its inability to participate in inviting the 7 Group on Monday, her decision reflects her desire to avoid Trump’s antagonism. Its unwillingness to take a position now contradicts her strong general support for Zelinski war.

“Meloni makes acrobatic games with high wire,” said Stefano Stefanini, a former Italian ambassador to NATO. “You can not – and do not want – to return it to Ukraine because it went very far away in supporting KYIV and Zelenskyy. On the other hand, you don’t want to give any hint of Trump’s criticism, who attacked Zelinsky.”

Stefanini added that the G7 call “buy time before having to choose.”

Many European leaders reeling from Trump’s personal Animus towards Zelinski, and his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his comprehensive hostility to Europe, whose administration has argued that it turns against the right -wing voices and no longer adheres to the same values ​​of the United States.

but Watermelon – A right -wing politician is due to a speech at the American Conservative Political Labor Conference on Saturday – in a particularly embarrassing situation, given its efforts to develop relations with Trump, and its deep friendship with its main mortality, Elon Musk, who also put it in Zelenskyy.

Meloni has previously expressed her emotional support for Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression, including at the 2022 CPAC conference, which was held a few days after Russia’s invasion, and its visits to Kiev on the first anniversary of the invasion.

While the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Germany gathered to Zelinski’s defense last week, Hafez Meloni – the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration – is a deliberate silence.

In an emergency meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron invited in Paris with a handful of other European leaders to discuss a collective response to Trump’s sudden exchange with Putin, Meloni arrived, and it seemed uncomfortable and complained of a form that initially excluded most of the European Union countries that were threatened by Russia.

“It is a hedge – no way to go,” said Beniamino Erdi, a former Italian council colleague and advisor to the Italian government security policy. “She still believes that the special relationship she built with Trump and Musk may be of more valuable than her relationship with European allies.”

The members of the Melonian Brotherhood Party in Italy once hoped that its strong ideological rapprochement and long relations with American Republicans facilitate the dialogue between Washington and Europe on issues including Ukraine and trade.

Instead, tensions exploded.

Erdi said: “The pendulum flirted faster, to a severe path than anyone expected,” Erdi said. “But it is impossible to build a bridge. The ocean is very wide now.”

Erdi said: “You have an incredibly violent president in his anti-Ukraine speech and to keep his friend, you have to support him on things that would rub from anyone else-and the situations that you have occupied in the past,” Erdi said. “If you take the G7 call, and continue to press Putin’s aggressor calling, you are the capital you built with Trump and musk.”

Natalie Toyki, director of the International Affairs Institute in Rome, said that the absence of Meloni from the call of the Group of Seven may have been a gradual decrease in public support from Rome – especially verbal support – to Kev so that the White House does not return.

But Tukchi said that Meloni would likely support any European initiative to see that Trump blesses, including the deployment of Italian forces on a potential reassurance force led by others to secure Ukraine.

“It is Italy first,” said Tukchchi. “It will definitely separate with Trump, whatever happens. She will not stick her neck to risk this relationship for Europe.”