Italy has not sent military shipments to Ukraine for about ten months, La Repubblica reports. The new, 13th aid package, according to the newspaper, is ready, but its approval keeps being postponed. The last one, the 12th package, was agreed in November 2025: the decree was signed by Defense Minister Guido Crosetto with the consent of the foreign and economy ministers, and its publication was announced in early December.
The contents of the 13th package are classified. According to unconfirmed reports in the Italian media, it may include SAMP/T air defense systems, Aster missiles, radars and generators for civilian infrastructure. For the package to take effect, the decree must be signed by Crosetto, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti. According to La Repubblica, everything depends on a political decision by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The deadlines have slipped one after another: first July, then September, then the League’s congress, and now the US midterm elections on November 3. Rome, the paper writes, is waiting for the results to understand Donald Trump’s course.
Another reason is divisions within the ruling coalition. On October 25, at the congress in Milan, Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and League leader, was re-elected party secretary (465 votes to 146) and declared: “We cannot keep sending money and weapons to Ukraine.” He promised to raise the issue in the Council of Ministers. The date of the discussion has not yet been set.
His coalition allies responded publicly. Tajani said Italy would support Ukraine “for as long as necessary” and that the new package would be sent soon. Crosetto said the country’s line on Ukraine “cannot change.” In September, however, Crosetto himself had said that “as of today the package does not exist” and that it would be ready when there was aid that was “real, genuine and not merely formal.”
The government has little time: parliament’s authorization to transfer military materiel to Kyiv is valid only until December 31, 2026. If it is not extended, the decrees on military supplies will cease to apply, while humanitarian, financial and diplomatic assistance will continue. Public opinion in Italy, according to La Repubblica’s estimates, is largely against arms deliveries, and general elections must be held by the end of 2027.
