Did George Melony say: “If Russia does not agree with the conditions of Ukraine, we will force them to surrender”?

In mid-June 2024, the phrase of the Prime Minister of Italy spread in social networks and the media, which she allegedly said during the world summit in Switzerland. We found out whether Melony made such a statement.

June 16 Ukrainian And Russian The media, as well as Telegram channels, distributed the news of the ultimatic statement of George Melony. Many channels also provide an excerpt from the performance of the head of the Italian government with a synchronous translation into Ukrainian. The translator says the following: “To protect Ukraine means combining the efforts of the international community to protect Ukraine. If Russia does not agree [with the conditions of the world proposed by Ukraine], we will force it to surrender. And we need to establish the minimum conditions for this discussion. ” A fragment of this quote shared, in particular, Telegram channels "The world today with "Yuri Podolyak""(1.7 million views at the time of writing this analysis),"The ax live"(892 000),"Insider UA | Ukrainian | New"(390 000) and"Putin in Telegram"(209 000).

June 15–16 at the Swiss resort Burgenste Passed The world summit is an event at which the leaders of several dozen states discussed certain points “Formulas of the World” proposed by the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. The forum was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice-President Kamal Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Sholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and many other high-ranking guests, including Italy Prime Minister George Melony.

In the short video, which was distributed by Telegram channels, the slogan of the world summit is visible in the upper right corner: #pathForpeace. Official Translation Events with a synchronous translation into Ukrainian led the office of the President of Ukraine on Facebook. Meloni performed on the second day of the summit, June 16. The excerpt, dispersed through the media and social networks, begins in a broadcast at 11:00, respectively, the recording itself is genuine.

It remains to establish what it was Meloni who spoke in the original. On the official YouTube channel of the Italian government, the performance of the Prime Minister was completely published, and without transfer to Italian-the politician spoke in the summit in English.

In the original, Meloni says:

Defending Ukraine Means Defending that System of Rules that Holds The International Community Together and Protect Even Nation. IF UKRAINE HAD Not Been Able to Count on Our Support and theFore WULD WULD Been Forced to Surrender, Today WULD NOT Be Here to Discuss Negotiation, We WOULD BE JUST Discussing the Invasion of A Sovereign State.

This statement is translated like this:

To protect Ukraine means protecting the system of rules that unites the international community and protects every nation. If Ukraine could not count on our support and therefore would have been forced to surrender, today we would not discuss the minimum negotiation conditions here, we would only discuss the invasion of the sovereign state.

That is, Meloni did not say that Russia should give up, she only said about the importance of international support, largely thanks to which Ukraine still opposes Russian invasion and is able to discuss the conditions of a future peace agreement with partners.

Thus, in the synchronous translation during the direct broadcast of the summit, a mistake was made that completely distorted the meaning of the statement of the Prime Minister of Italy. Many Ukrainian media, having familiarized themselves with the original record, later fixed their news, indicating on the inconsistency of the translation by the words of Melony. In turn, some Russian Media And politicians They calculated that the mistake was made intentionally.

Photo on the cover: European Commission Audiovisual Service

Not true

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