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What the Meloni prank call revealed in November 2023
Summary
A look back at the days before 8 November 2023, when Kyiv faced anger over battlefield losses and an embarrassing phone call involving Italy's prime minister.
What was weighing on Ukraine's politics on 8 November 2023? Two reports from the days just before that date set the mood: one about losses at the front, the other about a leaked conversation involving a European leader.
On 3 November, a Russian missile strike killed more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers at an awards ceremony near the front line in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident could have been avoided, amid anger over the losses.
On 2 November, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took part in a phone call in which she believed she was speaking with a senior African Union official. She was in fact talking to the Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus. In the call, she said European leaders were tired of the war in Ukraine and wanted to broker a deal with the Kremlin, adding that a way out was needed.
Taken together, the two reports showed the pressures around Kyiv in early November 2023: public anger at home over a deadly strike, and a recorded remark from a European head of government about fatigue with the war.
