They said they declined to comment on Berlusconi's remarks, but what counted was that "Premier Giorgia Meloni was very clear in her message on Ukraine to European leaders last week.
"That is the only thing that counts".
Zelensky on Thursday attended his first EU summit since the start of the war and gained unswerving support from EU leaders including Meloni, although he did not secure completely firm commitments on sending the fighters he craves to stave off a Russian offensive on the anniversary of the invasion.
Speaking on Sunday, Berlusconi said he would "never" have met with Zelensky as Italian leader as Meloni did on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels Thursday, saying he had a "very, very negative" view of Zelensky's conduct in the Russian-prompted war.
"I would not have gone to speak to Zelensky if I had been premier because we are witnessing the devastation of his country and the massacre of his soldiers and civilians," Berlusconi said after voting in regional elections in Lombardy, the region around Milan.
"It would have been enough for him to stop atacking the two autonomous republics of the Donbass and this would not have occurred, and so I judge very, very negatively the conduct of this gentleman".
The media billionaire's statement prompted widespread calls for Meloni, who has staunchly defended Ukraine both before and after becoming Italian premier on September 25, to distance herself from her ally's stance against Zelensky.
Zelesnky's advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Rome-based newspaper la Repubblica on Monday that the 86-year-old ex-premier, who has long been a close personal friend of Putin's and who long claimed to have briefly brought him into the pro-Western fold, was a pro-Putin agitator who was hurting Italy.
"Berlusconi is a VIP agitator who is acting in the interests of Russian propaganda, he is bartering away Italy's reputation for his friendship with Putin," Podolyak said.
"His words are damaging for Italy".
"He should drop the mask and publicly say he is in favour of the genocide of the Ukrainian people".
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook on Monday that "Berlusconi's senseless accusations against Zelensky are an attempt to kiss Putin's hands, bloodied up to the elbows."
Nikolenko said it was "an attempt to show his loyalty to the Russian dictator".
The chairman of Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, said the government's position was still the same in fully supporting Kyiv and Berlusconi was a man of peace who allegedly had not changed his allegedly pro-Ukrainian stance.
"The government's position is still the same.
"Berlusconi is a man of peace, he certainly has not hanged his positions in support of Ukraine, NATO and the West.
"We have always voted the same way and we will continue to vote like this".
ANSA
