The Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament says that in the coming days Moldova will deliver a large shipment of medical aid to Ukraine. Also, a team of explosive ordnance disposal specialists will travel to Ukraine to help with the demining effort. Igor Grosu says that he communicated to his Ukrainian counterpart that this is the immediate aid that Chisinau can offer, but the six decommissioned MiG-29 jets in Moldova’s possession are not on the table.

Recently returned from Kyiv, Igor Grosu says that the Republic of Moldova will provide all the necessary assistance to Ukraine, within the limits of our country’s neutrality.

“We are ready to help them with our team of engineers, who are very professional. There were requests for medicines as well, and we said we were preparing a batch for them. In the coming days we will agree to whom to send this batch of medicines and medical equipment. I told them that we would facilitate the transit of goods that Ukraine wants to export. Ukraine is the granary of Europe. Many European countries used to import wheat from Ukraine and now we can use our territory, railways, transit roads for that. Ukrainian ports are blocked, and we are the first who can help. And this is exactly what we do”, Igor Grosu told a talk show on national television.

Igor Grosu says that the “MiGs saga” was blown out of proportion by the opposition for political gains, and that he explained very clearly to his Ukrainian counterpart that the Republic of Moldova cannot deliver any military equipment.

“I told them it’s not possible, the law forbids it, our neutral status prevents us from doing this. The fact that they are trying to inflame this issue is a political speculation. It is an attempt by our opposition to speculate, as they speculated with the May 9 symbols. Ukraine is in a situation where it is asking for help everywhere because they are at war. But it is correct to communicate and explain to them where we can help and where the legislation does not allow us”, said Grosu.

Speaker Igor Grosu and MP Lilian Carp, chair of the Defense Committee, are so far the only Moldovan officials to visit Ukraine since the war began on February 24. The two officials met with the president of the Verkhovna Rada and visited the town of Bucha, infamous for the atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.