Kyiv admits to deploying units of troops along the border with Transnistria

Ukrainian troops have been deployed along the border with the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic of Transnistria admitted a Kyiv official.

According to Natalya Gumenyuk, the press secretary of the Ukrainian ‘South’ Defence Forces, Kyiv has deployed units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Transnistria. She revealed this information on Monday, February 27, to the Rada TV channel.

Gumenyuk insisted that the Ukrainian forces stationed near the border with the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic “are adequate to the threat that is hypothetically possible from Russia”, as reported by ria.ru.

Last week, the Ministry of Defence reported that Ukraine was preparing an armed provocation against the PMR. According to the department, for this, Kyiv intended to use units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the Azov nationalists. This would be conducted as a pretext for invading the unrecognised republic, disguised as a staged ‘offensive of Russian troops’ from the territory of Transnistria, the ministry added.

Moldovan authorities were unable to confirm this information. Igor Dodon, the former President of the country however said that any actions of Kyiv towards the PMR can be regarded as aggression against Chisinau.

The Foreign Ministry said that the Russian Armed Forces would adequately respond to a provocation against Pridnestrovie if it happened. Around 60 per cent of the population of Transnistria are Russians and Ukrainians. Fearing that the republic would join Romania on the wave of nationalism, the territory sought secession from Moldova even before the collapse of the USSR.

In 1992, after a failed attempt by the Moldovan authorities to solve the problem by force, the region became virtually a territory not controlled by Chisinau. Peace in the conflict zone is maintained by joint peacekeeping forces, including the Task Force of Russian Forces, the successor to the 14th Combined Arms Army, which was transferred under Russian jurisdiction after the collapse of the USSR.