ROME, October 28. /TASS/. Thousands of people gathered in downtown Naples to protest against continued arms shipments to Ukraine and demanded the start of a negotiating process, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported on Friday.

The protest was organized by authorities from the Italian southern administrative region of Campania. The region’s Governor Vincenzo De Luca noted earlier that the aim of the protests was to invite a ceasefire in Ukraine by blocking all weapons supplies to the country.

"Ukraine has received aid in the form of money and weapons, but we must cut supplies of weapons in order to start proceeding along the path of peace," De Luca stated, adding that the protests would include students, representatives of trade unions and organizations in the cultural sphere.

A nationwide demonstration in support of the start of peace talks and a ceasefire in Ukraine is scheduled for November 5 in Rome.

Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated earlier in the week that "peace cannot be reached through a capitulation, but is possible only through support for Ukraine."

The situation along the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military back then, which damaged civilian infrastructure and caused civilian casualties.

On February 21, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.

From September 23 to September 27, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.

On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and the LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved laws on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.