Romania has sent Ukraine 23 shipments of military aid, which were agreed upon together with the army of the neighboring country, based on its needs, but also on the Romanian army's stocks, Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu told the Political Insider show on broadcaster Prima TV on Saturday, when asked if he knows exactly what the military aid offered by Romania to Ukraine over the last two and a half years consisted of.
"On the military side, there were 23 shipments that went to Ukraine, decided together with the Ukrainian army, according to their needs, depending also on the availability of the Romanian army and the Romanian army's stocks. There are some lists that were classified by decision of the Supreme Council for National Defense, and all this talk on the subject is just public hype," said the minister, emphasizing that the amount of 1.5 billion euros circulated in the media "is an estimate with no realistic basis."
"There are some inventory figures for certain equipment, some of which was no longer used. By the way, the Ukrainians needed Soviet-made hardware the Romanian army had shelved in its warehouses, so to speak, and they used some of it for spare parts. It is a reality, the Ukrainian war industry moves differently compared to peacetime, and any help was welcome. It is very difficult to say that the inventory amount is realistic, or that the said equipment could have been used tomorrow in case of war," added the Defense minister, Agerpres informs.
Asked why the Romanians shouldn't be informed on what the aid provided to Ukraine consisted of, Mosteanu said that "it's not good to say out loud what you emptied your warehouses of".
"The simplest answer is related to military strategy, because it's not good to say out loud what you emptied your warehouses of. (...) Anyway, it's better for the government to provide an answer, rather than have all kinds of figures tossed around in the public space. There will be a discussion with the president, with the prime minister, and we'll see to what extent and what we can say publicly. And in addition to military aid, there's also humanitarian aid, which is difficult to estimate. So, since the beginning of the war, from day one, we helped the Ukrainian people who needed this type of help, and we continue to do so. The economic aid for the Ukrainian economy, the fact that we helped them market their resources and created special corridors, as a neighboring country, no one else could do this. So we are here, in a position that is privileged in a way, but that also comes with many challenges. We stand by their side, we have done this from day one and we will continue to do it until the moment peace is reached and after that, in the peacekeeping process alongside our allies," explained Mosteanu.
Asked if, in the event that peace is reached, Romania could send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, Mosteanu replied: "At the moment, we do not have this perspective. There are talks about the peace process. But to reach peace, first you must have a ceasefire, then you must reach the peace process and from there forge a lasting peace, with solid security guarantees. Future action must emerge from NATO allies and the Europeans, to make sure that Putin does not use a peace process only to reload or rebuild his forces for a new attack."
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