Ambassador Prokopciuk: Romania has taken all the legislative steps to donate a Patriot System to Ukraine

Romania has taken all legislative steps to donate a Patriot system to Ukraine, declared on Friday, the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest, Ihor Prokopciuk, during a meeting with Romanian journalists.   'For us it was very important that this matter of donating a Patriot system was finalised. We are talking about a process which closed last week. It is a very welcomed evolution. President Zelensky thanked Romania for this decision, and now there are different formalities which have to be covered. I cannot offer other details connected to a possible calendar, but I can say that at present we are very satisfied that all steps connected to normative and legislative matters on the part of Romania were made. We thanked Romania for this donation', the diplomat said.   He also tackled the issue of the incidents on the allied territory and said that the Russian drones represent a very serious threat not only for Ukraine but also for the neighbouring countries to Ukraine. In this sense, he supported  the scenario according to which  the neighbouring allied countries could shoot down Russian drones in the Ukrainian space.   'Our viewpoint is that it would be in the interest of our security to allow the neighbouring country to shoot down these aircraft in the Ukrainian space. It would be efficient as regards defence and it would eliminate any other collateral risk when these aircraft are shot down on the territory of other countries. The risks include not only the strike itself, but also from the debris that fall from a missile or drone that has been destroyed. We do that in our space, anyway.' Prokopciuk said.   According to him, such actions cannot be considered involvement in the war.   ' It is very clear that the Russian aggressor should not be a threat for the Romanian or Polish people. It is completely legitimate to say that, taking into consideration that this threat existed, the missiles and the drones will be shot down if they appear at a certain distance. It is completely legitimate from the point of view of defence. Discussions on this issue go on. We understand that there is a discussion on this issue within NATO', the Ukrainian ambassador said.   (  Photo: romania.mfa.gov.ua)