The interior ministry of the region said that shots were fired from Ukraine in the direction of an arms depot, and two drones were sighted from Ukraine.
There were several shots fired from Ukraine's border with Transnistria into the territory of the self-proclaimed republic and in the direction of a huge arms depot, its interior ministry said on Wednesday. Two drones were also seen in the area.
The ministry spokesman said that at 8: 45 p.m. on April 27 shots were fired from Ukrainian territory in the direction of Kolbasna village. Transnistrian officials said no casualties had been reported as a result.
The ministry said that several drones were seen over the village of Kolbasna overnight in a separate incident preceding the alleged shooting on Wednesday. The drones from Ukraine have been launched into Transnistrian territory, according to the Transnistrian authorities. Russian peacekeepers have been stationed there since the predominantly Russian-speaking region became independent from Moldova after a war in 1992.
Speaking to Russia's Interfax media outlet, the Russian contingent spokesman described the situation as calm, adding that several shots were fired from an assault rifle on Ukrainian territory. On Wednesday, a local media outlet reported that there were shots in the vicinity of an arms depot near Kolbasna village. The depot was set up back in the 1940s with the bulk of the weapons and ammunition stored there dating back to the early 1990s when Soviet troops were withdrawing from the former German Democratic Republic GDR Czechoslovakia and other countries of the former Warsaw Pact. At least some of the forces leaving Europe left behind in Transnistria. According to Russian peacekeepers guarding the depot, approximately 20,000 tons of weapons and ammunition are stored in the warehouse, about half of which are so obsolete that they can't be used or even transported.
According to Vadim Krasnoselsky, president of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic PMR, said the latest spate of terrorist attacks in the region had been traced back to Ukraine. Krasnoselsky called for Kiev to investigate the armed groups that had allegedly infiltrated his region and hit several targets there since the beginning of the week, citing the results of a probe conducted by local authorities.
The Transnistrian leader hypothesizes that those who arranged this assault aim to drag Transnistria into the conflict. That same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed concern over the latest developments in the region, saying Russia was watching the situation very closely. The self-proclaimed republic was put on terror alert on Tuesday by the Transnistrian government after a series of attacks. On Monday, the local security service s office in Tiraspol was hit with a disposable rocket launcher and a military base in Parkany was targeted in a separate incident. There were no casualties reported as a result. The assaults followed several explosions on Tuesday. Two radio masts were blown up in the village of Mayak.