Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Tuesday that the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine has been immense and that the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, would not go unpunished.

All we see today is proof that, following President Putin's miscalculation, a miscalculation regarding the Ukrainians' resolve to defend themselves, a miscalculation on the West's determination to make Russia pay the costs of this war, a miscalculation of our unity as European partners and a miscalculation of NATO's determination in recent months, NATO is stronger than ever. A few years ago, some partners had begun to doubt. The question has been answered in the meantime, NATO is here, it is strong and it is an organization we can count on. It is very important for me to be able to address you and your citizens to say how important it is to us that our security is collective. Your border is also our border and we will defend it together, the Belgian Prime Minister told the joint press conference with the President Klaus Iohannis, at the end of the meeting held at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

He stressed that the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine is immense, with over one million Ukrainians having left their living places.
We have over 35,000 registered refugees in Belgium, De Croo said.

The Belgian official maintained, in context, that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not go unpunished.

"Perhaps I should have mentioned one last miscalculation of President Putin - namely that he will not go unpunished. We see the war crimes having been committed, we see that the civilian population has been targeted, we see refugees being attacked, it is very clear for us and we are united in the sense that these things need to be known, evaluated and prosecuted at some point. Some people are responsible for what happened and must be held accountable," he said.

Alexander De Croo is convinced that other sanctions will be imposed on the Russian Federation for an even stronger impact, but this must be done in a prudent manner, "without endangering our own population and its prosperity."

The Belgian Prime Minister appreciated the efforts made by Romania to help the Ukrainian refugees.AGERPRES(RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)