Authorities in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova confirmed yesterday that four explosions rocked a former airport in a village on the border with Ukraine Friday night, but no deaths or injuries were reported.
“Near the village of Voronkovo, Rybnitsa district, in the area of the former airport, four explosions thundered,” the Pridnestrovian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on the Telegram channel.
The separatists said: “On the night of May 6, two explosive devices were dropped from a drone. An hour later, the attack was repeated,” they noted that there were no casualties.
The village of Voronkovo (Frankau in Romanian) is located about five kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
And there have been several recent incidents in the region, including a shooting near an arms depot and a series of explosions, raising fears that the current conflict in Ukraine will continue.
Transnistria is a separatist border region with southwestern Ukraine that has hosted a Russian military garrison since 1992. militarily.
For its part, Kyiv accuses Russia of seeking to “destabilize” Transnistria in order to justify a military operation.
In addition, on Friday, Washington announced new military aid to Ukraine as the Russian offensive continues unabated even in Mariupol, from where Kyiv reported about 50 civilians had been evacuated.
This comes despite the council’s unanimous approval on Friday of a declaration calling for peace in Ukraine, which is entering its 72nd day of war.
For its part, the United States announced $150 million in military aid to Ukraine, including artillery ammunition and radar equipment.
This assistance includes much less than previous packages, including 25,000 155mm artillery shells, radars to protect against Russian artillery fire, and communications jammers.
And US President Joe Biden said on Friday that funds allocated to supply Kyiv with weapons are running out, urging Congress to provide additional funds.
“For Ukraine to succeed in this next phase of the war, its international partners, including the United States, must continue to demonstrate their unity and determination to continue the uninterrupted flow of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine,” he stressed.
Security Council supports Guterres
In its first unified position since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the UN Security Council reaffirmed its “strong support” for UN Secretary-General António Guterres “in his quest for a peaceful settlement” of the war in that country.
A Security Council declaration prepared by Norway and Mexico states that “All Member States have committed themselves, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to settle international disputes by peaceful means.”
But heavy fighting continues on the ground, and on Friday night two rockets landed on the large Black Sea coastal city of Odessa without causing casualties, according to the southern command of Ukrainian forces.
Severodonetsk almost besieged
On Friday, the mayor of Severodonetsk announced that the city, one of the main cities in Donbass that is still under Ukrainian control, has become “almost under siege” by Russian forces and separatists.
“The shelling continues every day in the morning, afternoon and evening, not a day goes by without shelling,” Olga Babich told AFP after she left her city and reached Zaporozhye in southern Ukraine.
Hungary suspends project ban
Hungary continued to block a project to impose a European embargo on Russian oil imports, and EU countries are in difficult negotiations to find an agreement this weekend, diplomatic sources told AFP.
On the other hand, Germany, which has said it will supply Ukraine with seven armored howitzers and 2,000 Panzerhabitz guns, announced a meeting of the G-7 leaders via videoconference on Sunday with Zelensky to discuss Western support for Kyiv in the face of the Russian invasion of its lands, and the consequences of this wars rear their heads in the rest of the world.
Quiet now on the banks of a strategic river
Barbed wire and protective ramparts have replaced the usual childish noise on a public beach in Nikopol in southern Ukraine as the Russians control the opposite bank of the Dnieper, which divides the country between east and west and has gained strategic importance in the ongoing war.
The Dnieper River, crossing Nikopol, became a natural border separating the inhabitants of the city from the Russian troops.
The Dnieper stretches for 2290 km, originates in Russia and crosses Belarus, passes more than 1000 km in Ukraine and finally flows into the Black Sea.
The significance of the river, according to the economist, lies in the thirty bridges that cross “this very important artery” to connect the East, where the bowels of the country are located, and the West, “transforming them.”
