President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky invited Moldova and Romania to join the strengthening of naval cooperation in the Black Sea region, since due to the active militarization of Crimea, maritime shipping and trade in the region are under threat.

"Due to the active militarization of our Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, maritime shipping and trade in the region have come under threat. We must jointly address these modern challenges. To this end, Ukraine has come up with an initiative to strengthen cooperation between the naval forces of the Black Sea states. We offer our colleagues, both Romania and Moldova, which have access to the Black Sea, will also join this initiative," Zelensky said after a meeting with the Presidents of the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Poland in Chisinau.

"Let us unite our efforts as friendly neighbors who have a common past, as partners who equally see the future, as friendly and fraternal peoples, for the sake of the success of our peoples," he said.

In addition, according to Zelensky, the military threat around Ukraine remains high.

"Its level from the north is critical, where Belarus is used today as an additional springboard for aggressive actions. Other constant sources of threat are Russian troops in Transnistrian region of Moldova, in Abkhazia [...]," the president said.

Presidents of Ukraine, Romania and Poland, Volodymyr Zelensky, Klaus Iohannis and Andrzej Duda are in Chisinau at the invitation of President of Moldova Maia Sandu. They take part in the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Moldova's independence on Friday.