Romania remains a committed and reliable ally, interim president says after US halts aid to Ukraine

Interim president Ilie Bolojan said on social media that Romania is a committed and reliable ally, after US president Donald Trump halted all military aid to Ukraine on Tuesday, February 4.

Trump’s decision comes after a series of meetings at the White House with top national security officials in the aftermath of the disastrous public meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, February 28. At the meeting, the US president and vice-president berated the Ukrainian leader for being thankful of the American aid in the war with Russia.

While European leaders, including the Romanian acting president, ensured Ukraine of their continued support after the meeting, the Trump administration reportedly began looking at ways to pressure Zelensky into accepting negotiations with longtime Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"NATO is our strongest pillar of defense, and Romania remains a committed and reliable ally. We must step up investments to strengthen our defence capability. Europeans and Americans need to work closely together to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine," Bolojan wrote in his message on X in response to the latest developments between the US and Ukraine.

The suspension of aid from the US to Ukraine will reportedly remain in place until Donald Trump determines that Volodymyr Zelensky has committed to engaging in peace talks. The halt will apply to all military equipment not yet in Ukraine, officials said, and represents a direct response to what Trump views as Zelensky’s negative behavior last week.

Democrats in the US Congress denounced the freeze of military aid to Ukraine.

Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said Trump's military aid pause looked like it was meant to make Ukraine capitulate. "On the surface, this looks really bad. It looks like he is pushing us towards capitulation, meaning (accepting) Russia's demands," he told Reuters.

Ukraine and European allies, including Romania, have consistently argued that a ceasefire must carry explicit security guarantees to ensure that Russia, which holds about 20% of its land, does not attack again. Donald Trump has refused to give any such guarantees, and looks to have adopted an appeasement stance towards Russia, whose concessions are minimal.