Nicolae Ciuca, Marcel Ciolacu and Bogdan Aurescu, official visit to Kyiv

"On April 26, 2022, the Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca paid a working visit to Ukraine, to Kyiv, during which he was accompanied by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu", it is shown in a statement from the Executive.

"The Prime Minister of Romania was received by President Volodymyr Zelensky and had meetings with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the President of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.

The trip included a visit to the towns of Borodianka and Irpin, near the capital Kyiv, which were severely affected by Russia's illegal, unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine.

Prime Minister Ciuca sent a message of condemnation in the strongest terms of the Russian invasion, human atrocities and material destruction, expressing Romania's support for an international investigation into the prosecution of those guilty of international crimes, including by contributing through the recent voluntary financial decision, decided by the Romanian Government, to the Trust Fund of the International Criminal Court.

In the talks with Ukrainian officials, the Romanian Prime Minister reiterated his support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and outlined multidimensional support measures for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the context of the war, including the management of the more than 820.000 refugees who passed the border with Romania.

The Prime Minister thus highlighted the numerous administrative measures taken since the beginning of the Russian aggression to allow Ukrainian refugees access to the national territory and to ensure the necessary conditions of protection, such as the creation of refugee camps, regulating free access to medical, educational and transport services, as well as to the labor market. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca noted the attitude of extraordinary compassion and solidarity of the Romanian people with the Ukrainian people, reflected in the consistent volume of humanitarian aid delivered to Ukraine.

The Prime Minister underlined that Romania has also assumed an intermediary role in the transfer of international aid to Ukraine, through the humanitarian hub set up in Suceava on March 9, 2022, which has so far been transited by 32 humanitarian convoys with 163 trucks.

Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, together with Ukrainian officials, discussed new possibilities for support for Ukraine, the government statement said.

"Thus, the mitigation of the negative effects of the war on the Ukrainian economy was examined, in particular the possibilities for exports of cereals and animal products. Among other things, Prime Minister Ciuca mentioned, as a concrete support measure, the temporary liberalization by Romania on the national territory of the road freight transport performed by Ukrainian operators starting with April 5, 2022, the beginning of the rehabilitation of a wide gauge railway in the port of Galati, direct access of railways in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and shortening the time for transhipment of goods, analyzing the possibility of increasing transit capacity through common border crossing points and facilitating extended sanitary-veterinary control at these points, expanding the capacity to take over goods from Ukraine through the port of Constanta.

The Romanian Prime Minister also stressed the importance of developing connectivity between Romania and Ukraine by opening new border crossings, highlighting the key role currently played by the Iscaccea-Orlivka crossing, opened in 2020. Also, high importance was granted to the analysis of the options for exploiting the potential of energy cooperation.

The Prime Minister of Romania underlined that Romania is available and interested in participating substantially in the post-conflict reconstruction process of Ukraine, depending on the parameters and priorities defined by the Ukrainian authorities, and a dedicated bilateral dialogue will be established on this subject.

At bilateral level, Prime Minister Ciuca conveyed the desire to advance the Romanian-Ukrainian relationship to a higher level, starting from the existing cooperation potential, common security interests and solidarity between the two peoples. The Prime Minister of Romania pointed out that the openness and compassion of the Romanian people towards their fellow citizens in Ukraine represents not only the image of attachment to common values, but also a real mandate for the authorities of the two states to enrich and elevate the bilateral relationship.

The Romanian Prime Minister stressed the importance of the two related communities, Romanian in Ukraine and Ukrainian in Romania, as true bridges between the two societies and noted the behavior of good citizens of Ukraine shown by ethnic Romanians during the war, expressing the expectation that by ensuring to fully respect their identity rights, including language rights, to make Ukrainian society stronger and more cohesive.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca reiterated Romania's strong support for Ukraine's aspirations for EU integration and congratulated Kiev on its response to the first part of the accession questionnaire. On this occasion, he mentioned Romania's position, which has consistently argued that the European Union should offer a European perspective to Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, which deserve to be part of the European family.

Prime Minister Ciuca also spoke with senior Ukrainian officials about the Transnistrian case, including in the context of recent developments.

All Ukrainian interlocutors thanked the Government of Romania and the Romanian citizens for their support in various areas of direct interest to the Ukrainian side and for the solidarity shown, with much empathy, since the beginning of the Russian military aggression. They presented the field developments of the military confrontation and the need for support on several levels. They welcomed and supported the willingness to create a new partnership profile, superior, in all dimensions, for the Romanian-Ukrainian bilateral relationship and assured about the observance of the identity rights of the Romanian ethnics".

During talks with Ukrainian officials, Marcel Ciolacu stressed the regional role that Romania is ready to take on in the post-war reconstruction process of Ukraine and advocated for the rights of Romanians in Ukraine, according to a statement from the Chamber of Deputies.

After meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Marcel Ciolacu said that through the atrocities committed, Putin's Russia challenged the very foundation of European and Western civilization and democracy.

"In front of you, I do not shy away from words: it must be said clearly that what is happening now in many places in Ukraine is genocide.

"Romania has expressed strong support for Ukraine in all international fora, and on all channels. We cannot have as dialogue partners a country that prefers tank violence instead of political diplomacy. Russia must be isolated internationally, so we will support, without reservations, all the measures that will reduce the fighting capacity of this criminal regime.", declared in Kyiv the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu.

Translated by: Radu Matei