Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu had a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday, on which occasion the Romanian official reiterated Bucharest’s firm support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but and the „repeated request” for this country to recognize the non-existent so-called „Moldovan language”, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Agerpres reports.

During the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu expressed Romania’s solidarity with the struggle of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army in the war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation.

The two ministers discussed the situation of the critical infrastructure in Ukraine, especially the energy one, with serious, wide consequences, felt by the civilian population, with Romania making efforts to support Ukraine on this strategic level.

Minister Bogdan Aurescu gave assurances that Romania will continue along the lines of the numerous measures adopted at the national level to come to the aid of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, on the political, diplomatic, humanitarian, economic, financial levels, in the field of international law, as well as at the sectoral level. The head of the Romanian diplomacy reconfirmed the commitment for Romania’s involvement, alongside the Western partners, in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction effort, the MAE shows.

Minister Aurescu also mentioned the launch of the Trilateral Romania – Republic of Moldova – Ukraine, at the level of foreign affairs ministers, with the participation of energy ministers and representatives of energy companies, in September in Odessa. The two officials agreed to organize a new such trilateral meeting in the near future.

Bogdan Aurescu further recalled the official opening of the border crossing point Vicovu de Sus – Krasnoilsk, on November 10, 2022, in the presence of Romanian and Ukrainian Prime Ministers Nicolae Ciuca and Denys Shmyhal. The Romanian official emphasized the special importance for the Romanian side of improving connectivity and connecting, as closely as possible, the communities that live on one side and the other of the common border, with beneficial effects in social and economic terms, the cited source states.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy also mentioned the recent adoption by the Romanian Parliament, on November 23, 2022, of the Declaration condemning the Holodomor – the deliberate starvation against the Ukrainian people and humanity committed by the Soviet state in the period 1932-1933.

Minister Bogdan Aurescu emphasized, once again, Romania’s solid support for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration and recalled our country’s principled approach to strengthening NATO’s „open door policy”.

Last but not least, Minister Aurescu recalled the repeated request of the Romanian side for the Ukrainian side to recognize the non-existence of the so-called „Moldovan language”, the MAE press release also shows.

According to the same source, Dmytro Kuleba thanked his Romanian counterpart for hosting the NATO Ministerial in Bucharest, in which Ukraine was also invited to participate, as well as for the solidarity and constant support given by the Romanian authorities to the Ukrainian people, expressing his openness to deepening cooperation „in the spirit of good neighborliness and the irreversible rapprochement of Ukraine to the European values”.

Agerpres