President Klaus Iohannis reacts after Defense Minister Vasile Dinku said that “negotiations with Russia may be the only chance for peace.”

The head of state claims that Romania’s official position is that only Ukraine decides when, how and what to negotiate, and some high-ranking government officials should read the press magazine to find out.

“In this war, Russia attacks Ukraine. In this war, Ukrainians are paying with blood, and we all have to accept the opinion that only Ukraine will decide when, how and what to negotiate. This position is our official position, this is the official position of the European Union, and probably some of our high-ranking people need to read the press journal more often to learn about these positions,” Johannis said.

In an intervention on the Prima TV channel, the Minister of Defense of Romania stated that “the war in Ukraine will continue and that the only chance for peace may be negotiations with Russia.”

“Of course, these are difficult negotiations (…) The countries of the world, NATO, the USA should conduct negotiations for Ukraine about security guarantees and peace with Russia. Ukraine itself will not be able to negotiate with Russia, because the political class in Ukraine cannot now allow, assume (…) the loss of territories, the ultimately unjust loss of territories. It would be too big a defeat for politics,” he said.

Dinku also stated that “Russia has the resources to continue the war and that “ideally it would be to reach a negotiated situation, even if it reached a frozen conflict, negotiations would still do more good than what is happening now, the destruction of human lives , goods”.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi accused “Russian manipulation” of “alleged negotiations”.

“Today, I want to make this appeal to those in the world who are being manipulated by Russia regarding alleged negotiations, regarding the assumption that only negotiations can end this brutal Russian-terrorist war. Does a terrorist state want peace? Obviously not. He proves it every day and every night.”

Zelenskyi emphasized that “constant terror against the civilian population is Russia’s clear refusal of real negotiations” and recalled Russian attacks on peaceful settlements, such as the one that took place on Sunday morning in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

“When someone wants negotiations, he does not conduct them. But when someone is a terrorist, that’s what they do. Do negotiations really help defeat terror? Now everyone must honestly answer this question for themselves,” said the President of Ukraine.