On May 21, Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Carlo Formosa and Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, signed an agreement on a new contribution from Italy in the amount of EUR 10 million for repair and reconstruction work in Ukraine’s energy sector.
This was announced by Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Denys Shmyhal following a meeting with Lorkovsky and partners on a Telegram channel on Thursday.
“Prior to this, Italy had already contributed EUR13 million to the Energy Support Fund. We are grateful to Italy,” he noted.
According to Shmyhal, the parties paid special attention to mechanisms for attracting additional contributions to Ukraine’s Energy Support Fund as a tool for strengthening energy resilience.
“We also discussed opportunities for international businesses to invest in Ukraine’s energy sector. “The launch of updated auctions for the construction of new power generation capacity in Ukraine is an important signal to the market; we can more broadly attract international investors to the development of new capacity,” he said.
Ukraine is also preparing to present these and other opportunities at the URC conference in Gdańsk in June.
“We agreed to jointly develop mechanisms for mitigating and insuring against military risks for such investments,” the First Deputy Prime Minister added.
As reported, as of the end of April, Ukraine’s foreign partners had announced additional contributions to the Energy Support Fund totaling approximately EUR 100 million.
In total, as of early April, the Energy Support Fund of Ukraine had received grant funds totaling nearly EUR 1.854 billion from 37 foreign sponsors from 26 partner countries and three international organizations.
Italy is preparing a new tax regime for citizens who have lived abroad for a long time and wish to return to their homeland after retirement.
The essence of the initiative is the introduction of a preferential 4% tax rate on worldwide income for returning Italian expat retirees. The new regime is intended to become a separate tool of Rome’s tax policy and the first one specifically targeted at recipients of Italian pensions.
Italy currently has several preferential regimes in place for new residents, including a scheme for wealthy foreigners and a 7% regime for foreign retirees who move to certain small municipalities in the south of the country. However, these mechanisms did not fully address the situation of Italians who have worked and lived abroad for decades and then wish to return to Italy to retire.
Under the current scheme for foreign retirees, the 7% rate applies to foreign income if the individual transfers their tax residency to Italy and moves to an eligible municipality. In 2026, Italy expanded this scheme: the population limit for participating municipalities was raised from 20,000 to 30,000 residents, opening up access to the benefit for new towns in the south of the country.
The new 4% scheme could become a more targeted measure for Italian citizens abroad. Authorities hope it will help bring back some retirees who have income and savings outside Italy but maintain personal, family, or cultural ties to their homeland. For the government, it is also a way to support small towns and regions facing an aging population and population outflow.
For the real estate market, such an initiative could boost demand for housing in small towns and southern regions of Italy. Returning retirees tend to look not toward Milan or Rome, but toward more affordable locations with a low cost of living, a good climate, medical infrastructure, and the opportunity for a peaceful life. This could support the secondary housing market, long-term rentals, and services for senior residents.
In recent years, Italy has actively used tax incentives as a tool to attract capital and new residents. At the same time, authorities are reviewing tax breaks for ultra-high-net-worth foreigners: there have been discussions about raising the flat tax on foreign income for new wealthy residents from EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000 per year.
Andrea Abodi, Minister of Sports and Youth of the Italian Republic, paid an official visit to Lviv accompanied by Carlo Formosa, the Italian Ambassador to Ukraine, during which he signed a joint action plan for 2026–2027 in the fields of youth and sports with his Ukrainian counterpart Matviy Bedny.
“ “I am here to express, on behalf of the entire government, my respect and solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are suffering from an unjustified aggressive war that has been bringing death and destruction for four years now; a people to whom we are providing and will continue to provide support,” Abodi stated.
According to him, the contribution to Ukraine’s recovery must begin with the youth.
“The contribution to a new Ukraine must begin with the youth—the present and future of the country, which is unwaveringly focused on recovery. Youth policy, financial transparency in sports, training of specialists and research, as well as the restoration of sports infrastructure will be the first concrete steps in implementing the action plan,” the minister emphasized.
During the visit, both ministers paid tribute to the fallen defenders of Ukraine at the Heroes’ Memorial.
In addition, the Casa Italia cultural and sports center was opened in Lviv—a space created with the assistance of the Italian Association of Culture and Sport (AiCS) to support children orphaned by the war by engaging them in physical activity and creativity.
The Italian and Ukrainian delegations also met with players from the “Pokrova AMP” amputee soccer club, emphasizing the importance of veteran sports as a tool for physical and psychosocial rehabilitation.
“Minister Abodi’s visit clearly confirms that Italy stands with Ukraine: this is a partnership that strengthens new generations and brings Ukraine closer to European standards, where sport is the foundation of a strong and healthy nation,” Ambassador Formosa concluded.
Italy is focusing on supplying medical equipment for maternity wards in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
“We promptly provided Ukraine with industrial boilers and electric generators to cope with power outages and supply disruptions caused by Russian attacks. Now we are focusing on sending medical equipment, especially for maternity wards,“ she said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome on Wednesday.
”I believe that we Italians should be proud of this work done to support the civilian population,” she said.
Meloni also emphasized that “Italy is very interested in developing joint production of drones, a sector in which Ukraine has become one of the world leaders over the years.”
The results of a public opinion sociological survey conducted in March 2026 by the research company Active Group in cooperation with the information and analytical center Experts Club indicate a sharp improvement in Ukrainians’ attitudes toward Italy. Overall, 70.2% of respondents evaluate the country positively, while negative attitudes account for only 0.5%. Compared to August 2025, positive assessments increased by more than 10 percentage points (from 57.3%), while negative ones significantly decreased (from 2.3%).
The structure of responses demonstrates not only growth in positivity, but also its qualitative strengthening. The share of “completely positive” attitudes is 19.3%, while “mostly positive” accounts for 50.8%. This means that the positive perception of Italy is not situational, but stable in nature and is formed among the majority of respondents without significant reservations.
The share of neutral assessments is 28.9%, which is a moderate indicator and indicates a sufficiently formed perception of the country. The negative segment is practically absent: only 0.5% of respondents chose the option “mostly negative,” while “completely negative” attitudes were not recorded. The share of those who were unable to determine their answer also stands at 0.5%.
The dynamics of changes between 2025 and 2026 is one of the most indicative among all countries. The growth of positive assessments is accompanied by an almost complete disappearance of negative ones, which indicates a consolidation of public opinion in a positive direction. Unlike cases where polarization or an increase in neutrality is observed, in the case of Italy a clear and stable positive image is being formed.
From an analytical point of view, this means that attitudes toward Italy are moving into the category of a high level of trust. The combination of a significant share of “mostly positive” and the growth of “completely positive” assessments indicates strengthening emotional certainty and a reduction in the level of doubt in the perception of the country.
“In the case of Italy, we see an example of rapid positive consolidation of public opinion. The growth of positive assessments is accompanied by an almost complete disappearance of negative sentiment, which is quite a rare dynamic. This indicates the formation of a stable positive image of the country in Ukrainian society,” said Oleksandr Pozniy, Director of the research company Active Group.
Overall, the results of the study show that Italy occupies one of the strongest positions among countries with a positive perception in Ukraine. A sharp increase in positivity, a minimal level of negativity, and a stable structure of responses indicate a formed and consolidated image that has the potential to remain устойчивый in further dynamics.
According to a study conducted by the Experts Club information and analytical center based on data from the State Customs Service, Italy ranks sixth in terms of total trade in goods with Ukraine, with a figure of $5.02 billion. At the same time, imports from Italy slightly exceed Ukrainian exports, forming a moderate negative balance for Ukraine.
The study was presented at the Interfax-Ukraine press center, and the video can be viewed on the agency’s YouTube channel. The full version of the study can be found at this link on the website of the Experts Club analytical center.
ACTIVE GROUP, EXPERTS CLUB, ITALY, LATER, SOCIOLOGY, SURVEY, UKRAINE
The municipality of Farini in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna has launched a program to sell homes for a symbolic price of €1 in order to encourage the restoration of abandoned properties and revitalize the town. According to a notice from the municipality, the program involves properties transferred by private owners that are planned to be repurposed for residential, tourist, commercial, and other uses. Farini’s official website also states that the municipality has a population of 1,047.
Authorities state that the initiative’s goal is to renovate dilapidated buildings, attract new residents, and boost the area’s economic appeal. Applications are open to all interested parties, even if they do not reside in Farini, as well as third-sector organizations active in the local community. In return, buyers are required to renovate the purchased property and maintain it in good condition.
The municipal website already features at least one property in the “Houses for EUR1” showcase—a four-story stone residential building in the Valle di Cogno San Bassano area. The description states that the building is not subject to any special restrictions and can be restored not only as housing but also for commercial, tourism, or craft-related activities.
The Farini program has also attracted market attention because such schemes are usually associated with southern Italy, whereas in this case, the initiative is taking place in the northern part of the country. For small municipalities, such initiatives remain one of the tools for combating depopulation, expanding the tourism base, and returning vacant properties to use.
