DISINFO: Ukraine fired at the largest ammunition depot in Transnistria
SUMMARY
A gunfire from the territory of Ukraine targeted arms depots near the republic of Transnistria’s village of Kolbasna.
In the morning of April 27 at 8:45 a.m. [local time] gun shots were delivered from the Ukrainian side in the direction of the residential area of Kolbasna.
Last night, several drones were detected in the sky over the village above the territory of Transnistria launched from Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation message about Ukraine allegedly attacking Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. No evidence given to support the claim.
The so-called "authorities" in Transnistria reported a series of explosions on the regional capital of Tiraspol on Monday, when officials said offices housing the state security ministry were attacked with a grenade launcher, and several more explosions were reported on Tuesday.
Moldova’s government in Chisinau said in a statement that it was “concerned about the incident” and “called for calm” in the region. “The aim of today’s incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities,” it added.
Maia Sandu, the President of Moldova, also spoke at a news conference that “these escalation attempts stem from factions within the Transdniestrian region that are pro-war forces and interested in destabilizing the situation in the region.”
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence has earlier denied being a party to the attacks. A Facebook post said, “the state of Ukraine has nothing to do with this and similar provocations.”
The Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova is uncontrolled by the constitutional authorities of Moldova, while Russia maintains a contingent of so-called peacekeepers and exercises political and military influence over the region. There is also a Russian ammunition and weapons depot in the region. After the 1992 armed conflict in the region, Moldova is constantly demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops and ammunition from its territory.
By signing the final document of the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, Russia has pledged to withdraw ammunition and troops by 2002 but has not done so to date. Since then, Russia has been repeatedly asked to honour its commitment and withdraw its troops from Moldova. In June 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted a statement urging troops withdrawal from the Republic of Moldova.
Also, in June 2021, the heads of state and government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels issued a communiqué with the same requirement to Russia.
See the EU statement from President of the European Council visiting Moldova on 4 May 2022.