CHISINAU, April 28. /TASS/. Ukraine has mined the Transnistrian sector of its border with Moldova to pull part of its troops from there to the front line, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Valeriu Chiveri said.
"Ukraine has perhaps mined its border with the Transnistrian region to have the opportunity to pull part of its troops deployed at this sector to more active combat zones," the senior Moldovan official said. He claimed that the operational group of Russian troops in Transnistria poses a threat to the security of both Moldova and Ukraine, even as its combat capabilities are limited, nor are they too substantial to require any security tightening.
Earlier, Ukrainian Ambassador in Moldova Paun Rogovey said Ukrainian troops had planted mines on the Transnistrian sector of the border with Moldova and installed surveillance equipment there. According to him, the move comes as Moldova does not control the unrecognized republic of Transnistria, where the Operational Group of Russian troops is stationed for a peacekeeping mission as guards at Soviet-era ammo depots in Cobasna.
After the conflict broke out in Ukraine, a series of terrorist attacks took place in Transnistria. Those were triggered by the shelling of the Ministry of State Security building with grenade launchers in the spring of 2022. Later, the antennas of one of the largest broadcasting centers in the region in the locality of Mayak were blown up. Military airfields near Tiraspol and Rybnitsa, as well as the deployment area of the Transnistrian peacekeeping force and the premises of the arsenal near Cobasna, where about 20,000 tons of ammunition are stored, were attacked. Transnistria’s Foreign Ministry turned to the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine, mediators in the negotiations between Tiraspol and Chisinau, for help in investigating the sabotage, but the request was ignored. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky said that the attacks had been organized from Ukraine as he accused Moldovan special services of involvement. The republic was under the maximum terrorist threat level until May 25, 2025, when it lowered it from the red threat level to yellow.