Ukraine’s Ministry of Community and Territorial Development held talks with a Romanian delegation to deepen cooperation on maritime security — from Black Sea patrols to protection of Danube logistics and joint positions in international maritime bodies.
At the center of the talks was Ukraine’s participation in the planned Black Sea Maritime Security Hub — an EU initiative designed to make maritime routes safer, protect critical coastal and port infrastructure, and strengthen regional coordination in the Black Sea. The Romanian side stressed that Ukraine’s wartime experience in securing grain and civilian shipping corridors is now one of the most valuable in the region, so they want Ukrainian experts directly involved in joint exercises and Hub activities.
What they talked about:
-
Black Sea security layer. Romania proposed that Ukraine delegate specialists to the Hub so joint monitoring, information exchange and crisis response can be practiced together — useful not just for Kyiv and Bucharest, but for the EU as a whole.
-
Danube navigation. Both sides focused on keeping Danube routes safe and functioning — the river remains one of Ukraine’s key export arteries, so support and protection of this region is a shared priority.
-
Protection of ports. The delegations discussed strengthening engineering protection of critical port infrastructure and reinforcing air defense around these facilities — a response to ongoing threats to coastal logistics.
-
International line of defense in IMO. A separate block of the meeting was about consolidating partners in the International Maritime Organization. Deputy Minister Andriy Kashuba called on Romania to support a common vote at the end of November so that Russia does not return to Category A of the IMO Council — Ukraine wants to keep the aggressor away from key decision-making on global shipping.
In short, the Ukrainian–Romanian dialogue is shifting from ad hoc wartime coordination to institutionalized regional security: joint EU platform, synchronized diplomacy in the IMO, and practical defense of the Danube and Black Sea logistics corridor.
