Ukrainian officials have spoken about the risk of another front opening in the conflict with Russia – along the border with Moldova in the southwest.
Part of the Moldovan border region is controlled by a pro-Russian administration in what is known as Transnistria. Unexplained explosions there earlier this week led Ukrainian officials to claim that Russia’s security services were planning provocations in Transnistria as a pretext to open a new front in the war.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Ukrainian television on Wednesday: “We have always viewed Transnistria as a springboard from which some risks could emanate for us [the] Odessa and Vinnytsia regions.”
There is a specific [military] The contingent of Russians ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 people, of whom only 500 to 600 are Russians,” Podoliak said.
But he said that most people in Transnistria are integrated in Moldova and Europe.
“Therefore, for Transnistria, active participation in the conflict in Ukraine will mean practically total isolation and destruction of the enclave,” Podoliak noted.
Podoliak hinted that Russia is trying to provoke Ukraine through this week’s events in Transnistria.
Roman Kostenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from Odessa, said Transnistria does not pose a strategic threat to Ukraine.
“It could be a tactical threat in any direction to tie down our troops,” the official said.
Kostenko said the Russians counted on Transnistria as “another front that could support them directly, for example, if they attack Mykolaiv, Odessa from the sea because Mykolaiv is blocking the land corridor.”
Ukrainian defenses around the city of Mykolayiv have prevented Russian forces from reaching Odessa by land.
Ukraine’s far south-west corner is now cut off from the rest of the country after a road and rail bridge over the Dniester River estuary was hit by a second cruise missile on Wednesday, after hitting it first on Tuesday. Russia did not say it carried out the missile attack.
Ukraine’s Military South Command claimed that Russian submarines continued to threaten missile attacks from the Black Sea. “Enemy forces are also preparing provocations with rocket attacks on Transnistria to accuse Ukraine of attacking the unrecognized republic,” it said.