Romanian minister of national defense Vasile Dincu resigned from office on Monday, according to Reuters—a resignation that took place less than a week after he posted on social media that Ukraine should surrender territory to Russia in exchange for peace, leading to criticism from both Kyiv and his own government.

Dincu submitted his resignation to Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciuca, who immediately accepted it. In a Twitter thread explaining his resignation, the former defense minister cited difficulties working with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, who holds the position of commander-in-chief of the Romanian armed forces and has voiced strong support for Ukraine amid its invasion by neighboring Russia.

“My [resignation] comes as it is impossible to cooperate with the Romanian president,” Dincu said, referring to Iohannis. “I think my withdrawal from the post is necessary so as to not harm decisions and programs which require fluid command chains and to not block a series of projects which are absolutely necessary for ... the ministry and the army.”

Dincu will continue to serve in the Romanian parliament as a ruling Social Democratic Party member. In his statement, he thanked Ciuca for his “honest cooperation and openness throughout the joint governmental activity.”

“I assure you of my full support for all the projects and programs of the Ministry and the Romanian Army as a member of the RO Parliament,” he concluded.

In early October, Dincu advised Ukrainian leaders to give away territory to Russia, claiming that a “frozen conflict” in which Russia continued to occupy parts of southern and eastern Ukraine—including the four regions it illegally “annexed” in late September—was still preferable to the continuation of the war, which would lead to thousands of additional deaths. The defense minister’s comments prompted sharp criticism from Iohannis, who insisted that only leaders in Kyiv could determine when and how to negotiate.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have publicly insisted on the return of all Ukrainian territories to Kyiv—including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia occupied and annexed in 2014 and considers a full province—as a non-negotiable condition for a peace agreement.

A former Soviet satellite state led by longtime communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004. Throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bucharest has supplied substantial military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv, a program that Dincu had helped to oversee before his resignation.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.