Amendments to the Ukrainian law on dual citizenship are causing concern among the large Romanian community in Ukraine, but also another exchange of remarks and accusations of “disinformation“ between coalition partners in the Romanian government, BTA reported.
A new law on obtaining and retaining Ukrainian citizenship, which came into force on January 16, has caused discontent among the Romanian community in Ukraine, as it does not include Romanians among the persons who can have dual citizenship, Romanian media reported. This means that people living in Ukraine who want to have Romanian citizenship will have to give up their Ukrainian citizenship, Euronews Romania notes.
Over 400,000 ethnic Romanians live in Ukraine, according to data cited by the Romanian edition of “Free Europe“. This community, which includes Romanians and Moldovans, is the second largest minority in Ukraine after the Russians, the Romanian media note. However, there is no information on how many of them also hold Romanian citizenship.
The normative act adopted by the authorities in Kiev defines the conditions under which multiple citizenship can be obtained, but Romania is not included in the list of countries with which Ukraine allows an agreement on dual citizenship. The list includes only five countries: three European - Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and two from North America - USA and Canada.
This means that Ukrainian citizens can obtain a second citizenship from these countries without having to renounce their Ukrainian one. The legal act also allows ethnic Ukrainians from the respective countries to become Ukrainian citizens through a simplified procedure, Agerpres reports.
„Ukraine has removed Romania from the list of countries whose citizens can have dual citizenship. The Romanian community feels discriminated against,“ writes in the headline of its article on the topic in the “Liberta“ newspaper.
The law on multiple citizenship was promulgated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July last year, but the government in Kiev adopted on November 5, 2025 the list of countries to which it will apply, notes Digi 24 television.
“Priority will be given to those countries that are among the closest and most reliable allies“, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine indicated at the time.
The main criteria on the basis of which this law was adopted take into account the affiliation of the respective countries to the G-7, to the EU or to the group of countries that have supported and implemented sanctions against Russia, as well as the support provided to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the television indicates, referring to Ukrainian media.
Ukrainian lawyer of Romanian origin Eugene Patras believes that the decision to limit the list of countries for which dual citizenship can be accepted to five countries is a form of underestimation of Romania by the authorities in Kiev, Agerpres points out.
“I would expect all the countries of the European Union that unconditionally support Ukraine in the current conflict to be included in the list. In addition, it could be the USA and Canada“, he commented to the national news agency.
“It seems to me that the countries that are part of the EU are being treated discriminatoryly. Especially Romania. After the Russians, the Romanian community is the second largest, and given Romania's unconditional support for Ukraine in the current conflict and the hundreds of ethnic Romanians who have fallen victim to the debt on the Russian-Ukrainian front, it is normal, natural and expected that Romania would be included in this list," he said.
According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the Romanian community in Ukraine is the third largest ethnic community in the country, if not divided into Romanians (151,000 people) and Moldovans (258,600 people), Euronews Romania notes.
The Romanian Social Democratic Party (SDP) - the largest parliamentary force that is part of the ruling coalition - asked this week the institutions with powers in foreign policy to clarify "urgently" with the Ukrainian authorities the reason why Romania was omitted from the list.
“The PSD demands that the institutions with powers in foreign policy – the Presidential Administration and the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urgently clarify with the Ukrainian authorities the reasons why Romania has been omitted from the list of countries for which Ukraine regulates the possibility of having an agreement on dual citizenship. The PSD believes that this omission visibly affects the Romanian community in Ukraine and strongly contradicts the unconditional support provided by our country throughout the Russian-Ukrainian war“, the party said in a statement.
According to it, such an “arbitrary approach“ by the Ukrainian authorities could affect, including, Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
“The new regulation is deeply unfair to the sacrifice of ethnic Romanians who fell victim to the debt on the Ukrainian front. The SDP calls on the Romanian authorities to intervene firmly and urgently to resolve this problem, given that Romanians represent the second largest ethnic minority in the neighboring country. Romania has always shown a correct attitude towards Ukraine, similar to Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, for which the new Ukrainian legislation allows dual citizenship agreements,“ the Social Democrats emphasize.
A clarification on the issue came on Wednesday from the Romanian Foreign Ministry, which stated that “the new law in Ukraine concerns mainly Ukrainian communities abroad“ and does not apply to persons who already have Ukrainian citizenship, Agerpres informs.
„Over the past three years, Ukrainian legislation on citizenship has undergone a number of changes aimed at facilitating the acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship without renouncing the other citizenship held by foreign citizens who fight as volunteers within the Ukrainian Armed Forces or develop humanitarian activities on the territory of Ukraine, their families, as well as to preserve and strengthen ties with the Ukrainian state of Ukrainian communities abroad“, the institution states.
The ministry notes that the law, adopted in June 2025 and entered into force on January 16, 2026, does not apply to persons who already have Ukrainian citizenship.
„The law mainly, but not exclusively, concerns Ukrainian communities abroad. In addition, the five countries on the first list approved by the Ukrainian government are the countries where the largest Ukrainian communities abroad live,“ the institution further specifies.
The Romanian state television TeVere also quotes a statement from the Ukrainian Embassy in Bucharest, which draws attention to the distribution in the Romanian information space of “a series of identical articles“ on the amendments to the law on the acquisition and retention of Ukrainian citizenship and notes that “the informative materials attempt to interpret the content of the Ukrainian law“.
The embassy recalls that according to the law adopted on June 18, 2025, Ukrainians can obtain citizenship of other countries, and the list of these countries will be approved by the government. The first such list, approved by a government decision of November 5, 2025, includes Canada, Germany, Poland, the USA and the Czech Republic. “These are the countries with the largest Ukrainian diaspora communities. The corresponding list will be expanded in the future“, the diplomatic mission states.
Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Coiu also clarified the issue last night. According to her, the law that came into force in Ukraine “does not provide for any restrictions on the right to citizenship of Romanian communities“ in the country.
“I will not comment on the political statements of my colleagues in the coalition“, said Coiu, referring to the reaction of the Social Democratic Party. The minister, who is a representative of one of the smaller coalition partners – The Union for the Salvation of Romania described these claims as “false information, politically exaggerated“.
“If there is a problem, it would be exclusively for Romanians who would like to keep their citizenship and request Ukrainian. But there are no such requests in significant volume either in Ukraine or in Romania (...) The law refers to something completely different, namely for countries whose citizens can request Ukrainian citizenship without renouncing their original one“, explained Tsoi.
According to her, “a large part of the Romanian communities in Ukraine are Romanian-speaking communities that already have Ukrainian citizenship“.
“What I want to clarify is that we are not talking about the right of these Romanians to obtain Romanian citizenship. "But if a Romanian citizen wants to obtain Ukrainian citizenship, indeed, he would face certain obstacles in the legal process, but we do not know of a large number of applications for this," Tsoi also pointed out.
Her words make it clear that the law is more likely to concern the Ukrainian ethnic minority in Romania, which is the third largest in the country. The Ukrainian embassy in Bucharest points out that, according to a 2011 census, there are about 51,700 ethnic Ukrainians living in Romania. There is no data on how many of them have Ukrainian citizenship.