Ukraine has proved it has a trained army, this is main security guarantee – Romanian FM

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Toiu said this ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, December 15, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Ukraine has proved that it has one of the best, better-trained armies in the world. So I think that if the case is that they are not going to join NATO and they are dropping that process, that does not mean they will not be able to defend themselves," she said, when asked how Europeans could guarantee Ukraine's security if it does not accede to NATO.

According to Toiu, another aspect is that "the main security guarantee that Ukraine, Romania, and a lot of the voices in the EU are focused on is to be sure Ukraine has a strong army, a resilient army, and a resilient society."

"In that sense, that is not connected with the decision to be part of NATO. It is something that we are already doing together in terms of providing the military equipment when that is the case," she added.

She also stressed that another significant element of security guarantees lies not only in ending the war, but also in ensuring the security that is needed for all commercial flows, all infrastructure projects, so that the region's economy, including Ukraine's, and the projects the sides are implementing together as neighbors are protected in the future and attractive to investors.

Toiu also said that Romania supports opening accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova not only on the first cluster, but also on others, since both countries have already made significant progress in reforms.

Photo: Facebook / Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania