Recently, Romanian Minister of Defense Ionut Mosteanu said that his ministry aims to ensure transparency in arms supplies as part of defense assistance to Ukraine, in response to requests from both the media and the public. As of the beginning of this year, arms supplies from Bucharest to Kyiv were classified (except for Patriot systems), and all information on transferred weapons relied on photos or videos from open sources showing the weapons in the hands of Ukrainian forces.
In the end, Romania admitted that this approach was sometimes harmful, and Mosteanu earlier summarized more than 20 defense aid packages, noting that they had sent Ukraine "what they needed and what we had available, from bullets and helmets to tanks and Patriot missiles," Defense Romania reported.
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According to the publication, it is difficult to believe the defense minister's claim that tanks were sent to Ukraine, since Romania, at least on paper, does not have any extra tanks.
As of today, Romania has five tank battalions, three of which are equipped with T-55 tanks and the other two with TR-85 and TR-85M1 Bizonul. With Abrams tanks arriving only next year, the Romanian army is unlikely to view any of its vehicles as extra.
As for the T-72s, they were decommissioned 20 years ago, so they can probably be useful only as spare parts donors.
In the end, the Romanian Minister of Defense was likely referring to TAB-71 armored personnel carriers rather than tanks, as these have already been spotted within the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
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