Romania–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on February 9, 1918 and re-established in 1992. In 2020, it was announced that Romania would open a consulate for Ukraine in

Sighetu Marmației Sighetu Marmației (, also spelled ''Sighetul Marmației''; german: Marmaroschsiget or ''Siget''; hu, Máramarossziget, ; uk, Сигіт, Syhit; yi, סיגעט, Siget), until 1960 Sighet, is a city (municipality) in Maramureș County near the ...

Disputes

Romania and Ukraine had been negotiating a broad treaty of friendship and cooperation for several years, but disagreement over ownership of the Snake Island and more importantly the oil and gas reserves that are thought to lie beneath its area of the Black Sea, as well as the northern border of Romania with Ukraine, had kept the sides apart. In June 1997, Romania signed a bilateral treaty with Ukraine that, among other concerned, resolved territorial and minority issues that had impeded the development of improved relations between the two countries: * The dispute between Romania and Ukraine over borders near the Snake Island (approx 50 km east of

Sulina Sulina () is a town and free port in Tulcea County, Northern Dobruja, Romania, at the mouth of the Sulina branch of the Danube. It is the easternmost point of Romania. History During the mid-Byzantine period, Sulina was a small cove, and in ...

) and its continental shelf of the Black Sea under which significant gas and oil deposits may exist, has been resolved after the 2009 ruling of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

. * The dispute between Romania and Ukraine over the construction of the

Bystroye Canal The Deepwater Navigation Course "Danube – Black Sea" is a deep-water canal in the Danube Delta that runs through the Danube Delta distributaries Chilia, Old Istambul and "Bystroe". Through most of its length it coincides with the ...

.Ukraine – Romania: a sustained deadlock
Centre for Eastern Studies (30 December 2011)

History

On 5 September 2020, the

Minister of National Defense of Romania The Ministry of National Defence ( ro, Ministerul Apărării Naționale — MApN) is one of the eighteen ministries of the Government of Romania. The current acting Minister of National Defence is . Ministry The Ministry of National Defence ...

Nicolae Ciucă and the Minister of Defense of Ukraine

Andriy Taran Andriy Vasylyovych Taran ( uk, Андрій Васильович Таран; born 4 March 1955) is a Ukrainian retired lieutenant general and politician. He was the 16th Minister of Defence of Ukraine. He is also a retired lieutenant general ...

signed an agreement for technical and military cooperation between the two countries. On 4 April 2022, amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy gave a speech to the

Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament in B ...

. Later, on 26 April, a group of Romanian officials visited Kyiv, promising more cooperation between Romania and Ukraine. After this, Russian hacking group started a campaign of cyberattacks against Romanian government and other official websites. On 19 April 2022 Romania announced a planned reform to the government decree that regulates the export of military weapons and national defence products in order to provide these weapons not only to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

allies but also to Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense developed the draft decree which states that the reason behind this decision is Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Maritime delimitation

The status of Snake Island was important for delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zones between the two countries. If Snake Island were recognized as an island, then continental shelf around it should be considered as Ukrainian water. If Snake Island were not an island, but a rock, then in accordance with

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

the

maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boun ...

between Romania and Ukraine should be drawn without taking into consideration the isle location. On 4 July 2003 the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indiv ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

and the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime m ...

signed a treaty about friendship and cooperation. Romania promised not to contest territories of Ukraine or Moldova, which it lost to

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but requested that Russia as a successor of the Soviet Union recognized in some form its responsibility for what had happened. On 16 September 2004 the Romanian side brought a case against Ukraine to the

(ICJ) in a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between the two States in the Black Sea. On 2007, Ukraine founded the small settlement of

Bile Bile (from Latin ''bilis''), or gall, is a dark-green-to-yellowish-brown fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is produced continuously by the liver (liver b ...

on the island, which was criticized by Romania. On February 3, 2009, the ICJ delivered its judgment, which divided the sea area of the Black Sea along a line which was between the claims of each country. The Court invoked the disproportionality test in adjudicating the dispute, noting that the ICJ, "as its jurisprudence has indicated, it may on occasion decide not to take account of very small islands or decide not to give them their full potential entitlement to maritime zones, should such an approach have a disproportionate effect on the delimitation line under consideration" and owing to a previous agreement between Ukraine and Romania, the island "should have no effect on the delimitation in this case, other than that stemming from the role of the 12-nautical-mile arc of its territorial sea" previously agreed between the parties.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Romania has an embassy in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and consulates-general in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also #Names, other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the Romania–Ukraine border, borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this ...

and

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern sho ...

and a consulate in

Solotvyno Solotvyno (also Solotvina) ( uk, Солотвино, hu, Aknaszlatina and hu, Faluszlatina, ro, Slatina, rue, Солотвино, yi, סעלאָטפֿינע (Selotfine), sk, Slatinské Doly) is an urban-type settlement in Tiachiv Raion T ...

. * Ukraine has an embassy in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

. File:Михайла Коцюбинського 8.JPG, Embassy of Romania in Kyiv File:24, Bulevardul Aviatorilor, Bucharest (Romania).jpg, Embassy of Ukraine in Bucharest

References

External links

Romanian embassy in Kyiv

Bucharest
Bukovina Region in the Collective Memory of Ukraine and Romania. By Valentyna Vasylova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romania-Ukraine relations

Bilateral relations of Ukraine