Through their military strength, unique in the world, and the enormous contribution to the NATO budget, the US has often been described as the first among equals within NATO. Through its neighbourhood with Ukraine, which was last year invaded by the Russian troops, Romania – itself a NATO member and linked to the US by a 25-year long strategic partnership – has been an essential player in the efforts of the free world to help Ukraine resist. Romania has been a transit country for exports of cereals and other Ukrainian agri-food products to world markets, helping Kyiv keep its war-shaken economy afloat. The humanitarian tragedy in the neighbouring country would have been worse without the help of the Romanian people. More than 4.5 million Ukrainian citizens have fled the war in their country through Romania. Most of them continued their journey to countries in western Europe, but about 100,000, mostly women and children, have stayed here.
This month, the number of Ukrainian citizens finding employment in Romania since the start of the war reached a new high, said the labour ministry in Bucharest, Marius Budăi. He said 6,810 employment contracts were signed with Ukrainian citizens, the highest level since 24th February 2022. Most Ukrainian citizens employed in Romania, 1,452, are working in the processing industry, and 1,181 in constructions, while 737 are working in trade. The majority, 2,770, work in Bucharest and 418 in Timiş county, in the west.
„Together with our European, transatlantic and global partners, the United States and Romania have acted and will continue to act in support of Ukraine and all vulnerable partners in the Black Sea region”, president Klaus Iohannis reiterated on Wednesday evening at a reception hosted by the US embassy in Bucharest to celebrate national day. The American ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec said Romania and the US wish to build democratic, more inclusive and more prosperous societies and these common values are the reason why they stay united in the face of what she called Russia’s „unprovoked and terrible attack on Ukraine”. Almost simultaneously with the speeches made in Bucharest, US president Joe Biden said in Washington that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is a „pariah around the world’. Asked by the White House journalists if Putin’s regime is weakened after the failed rebellion of the Wagner mercenary group, Biden said it was hard to tell, but that Putin was clearly losing the war in Ukraine. (Bogdan Matei, Radio Romania International)
