Romania will donate a Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. The decision was made at the meeting of the Supreme National Defense Council (CSAT) that took place on Thursday in Bucharest. The CSAT members established that the donation of the Patriot system will be made on the condition of continuing negotiations, especially with the American strategic partner, in order to obtain a similar or equivalent system, which should meets the need to ensure the protection of the national airspace. In fact, the idea of donating such a system to neighboring Ukraine emerged last month, following the meeting of President Klaus Iohannis, at the White House, with President Joe Biden. Then, Klaus Iohannis said that Romania was asked to give up such a system. Now, after the CSAT announcement, the Presidential Administration emphasized, in a statement, that the decision was based on an in-depth technical evaluation by the authorities and that all measures were taken to eliminate the risk of creating vulnerabilities for Romania.
Thus, the National Defense Ministry presented within the Supreme National Defense Council a detailed analysis regarding the situation of the operationalization of the four Patriot systems that the country currently owns, the progress of the endowment program with the other three systems it ordered, as well as the impact generated by a possible transfer of a system, the press release writes. President Volodymyr Zelenski thanked Bucharest for the decision to donate Kyiv a Patriot missile system and said that he appreciated Romania’s firm support for Ukraine. ‘Today’s decision strengthens security not only in Ukraine, but also in our entire region and Europe’ the Ukrainian president wrote in a social network post. In fact, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has requested at least seven batteries, but the countries that own them have not yet decided on handing them over.
Also on Thursday, when Romania made the decision to donate the system, the United States announced that it was temporarily suspending deliveries of Patriot anti-aircraft systems to other countries, and Ukraine will now have priority in receiving them. The White House evoked Kyiv’s persistent requests to receive more Patriot batteries to defend both its frontline troops and infrastructure from Russian attacks. It’s also worth mentioning that Romania’s objectives at the NATO summit in Washington, next month, were also approved within the Supreme National Defense Council in Bucharest. The continuous deterioration of the security situation in Romania’s eastern neighborhood, as a result of the intensification of Russia’s military actions, was also analyzed.
At the CSAT meeting, Klaus Iohannis also announced that he had informed NATO allies, at the end of last week, about the withdrawal of his candidacy for the position of secretary general of the organization. The Romanian president asked the members of the Council to pronounce on the candidacy of the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, and they expressed their support for the Dutch official’s candidacy for that position within NATO.
Daniela Budu, Radio Romania International
