Romania–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between

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

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. 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''; or ''Siget''; , ; ; ), until 1960 Sighet, is a city in Maramureș County near the Iza River, in northwestern Romania. Geography Sighetu Marmației is situated along the Tisa river o ...

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 th ...

) and its

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

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; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

. * The dispute between Romania and Ukraine over the construction of the Bystroye Canal.Ukraine – Romania: a sustained deadlock

Centre for Eastern Studies The Centre for Eastern Studies (, OSW) is a Warsaw-based think tank that undertakes independent research on the political, economic and social situation in Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. The centre was founded i ...

(30 December 2011)

History

On 5 September 2020, the Minister of National Defense of Romania

Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 22 September 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a conservative, he served as Prime Minister of Romania between 25 November 2021 and 12 June 2023 after receiv ...

and the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran signed an agreement for technical and military cooperation between the two countries. On 4 April 2022, amid the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Zelenskyy gave a speech to the

Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania () is the national Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania), Chamber of Deputies () and the Senate of Romania, Senate (). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament i ...

. Later, on 26 April, a group of Romanian officials visited Kyiv, promising more cooperation between Romania and Ukraine. After this, a 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 ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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

and

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

s between the two countries. If Snake Island were recognized as an island, then

around it should be considered as Ukrainian water. If Snake Island were not an island, but a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, then in accordance with

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

the

maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of Earth's water surface areas using physiographical 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 () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second 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, ...

and the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

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

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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''), also known as gall, is a yellow-green/misty green fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is primarily composed of water, is pro ...

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 Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and consulates-general in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

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 ...

and a consulate in

Solotvyno Solotvyno (also Solotvina; ; ; or ; ; , ; ) is a rural settlement in Tiachiv Raion in Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine, located adjacent to Romania, on the right bank of the Tisza River opposite the Romanian city of Sighetu Marmației. The village' ...

. * Ukraine has an embassy in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. File:Михайла Коцюбинського 8.JPG, Embassy of Romania in Kyiv File:Bulevardul Aviatorilor 24-26 București (Ukrainian Embassy, Bucharest) 01.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