Rome shields itself before the visit of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky. The forces of order in the Italian capital take security measures to the maximum this Saturday so that the meetings that Zeleski has planned in the city take place without incident.

First of all, Zelensky will meet with his Italian counterpart, Sergio Matarella. But on this trip it is also planned that meet with Pope Francis and the Italian Prime Minister, giogia meloni.

For this day, a thousand agents have been deployed, a no-fly zone has been created and several sniper teams have been located in the areas where Zelenski will pass, whose agenda and schedules are still without being officially communicatedfor security reasons, although it is expected that he will begin his meetings with Mattarella and Meloni, and the meeting with Pope Francis will take place in the afternoon.

The impressive security device, which includes tight controls at the capital’s train stations and airports, has anti-terrorist units, sniffer dogs and anti-bomb squads, “and there will also be underground controls, with inspections of the sewage networks,” according to the police headquarters.

It is expected that, after his arrival at Ciampino airport, Zelenski will go to the Quirinal, the headquarters of the State headquarters, where Mattarella will be received and where no statements will be made to the media.

Afterwards, he will possibly meet with Meloni, firm advocate of European Union support for Ukraine and with which Zelenski has always maintained a good relationship, in what will be their second meeting in less than three months after the Prime Minister’s visit to kyiv last February. Pending the delivery of the Samp-T air defense system, for which Italy has trained Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky could reiterate his request for fighter jets from Rome, according to local media.

Finally, the Ukrainian leader will visit the Vatican to be received by Pope Francis, although the meeting has not yet been officially confirmed by the Holy See, which apparently considers the meeting to be private, which may further limit the already scant information about it.

The meeting occurs in the middle of the Vatican peace mission announced by the Pope on the return flight from her recent trip to Hungary and the details of which are not yet known, although a Vatican source has told Russian media that the meeting “is not directly related” to her and that Zelenski requested the meeting with Francis “just a few days ago.” It will be the first between the two since the war began, although they already know each other because Francis received Zelenski in audience on February 8, 2020 and on that occasion they spoke “of the humanitarian situation and the search for peace” in the context “of the conflict that, since 2014, continues to plague Ukraine”