President Sergio Mattarella marked National Unity Day Sunday by calling for an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The winds of independence and freedom that crossed Europe in the last few centuries found i the path of European integration a framework of guarantees,” he said.

“Today, we are faced with not dissimilar challenges to those that were f aced back then.

“The growing and terrible situation of instability marked by ever more bloody aggressions, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, threaten to involve the whole international community.

“These wars must be stopped, so that respect for human rights and international law is restored, guaranteeing the lives of every people.”