Kiev and Chisinau isolated the Russian military in Transnistria — ukroSMI

Kiev and Chisinau have completely blocked all supply routes of the Operational Group of Russian Troops (OGRV) in Transnistria since midnight on January 1. This is reported by the Ukrainian publications Reporting From Ukraine and Euromaidan Press.

According to their information, Ukraine has strengthened control along the entire border, and Moldova has expanded the system of checkpoints and mobile patrols: airspace is closed, land logistics is stopped, any movement is possible only with the permission of both sides.

"About 1.5 thousand Russian military personnel in Transnistria were cut off from fuel, ammunition and regular supplies — previously, a significant part of the logistics went through informal channels, which have now been eliminated. The region has no maritime access, and airlift is impossible due to Chisinau's control," says Reporting From Ukraine, stressing that the purpose of these actions is to isolate the Russian military presence in the region without the use of force.

The publication is confident that the Russian Federation has practically no real ways left to support the grouping without directly violating the borders of Ukraine or Moldova, which will inevitably attract international attention.

At the same time, as the correspondent of EADaily reports, there are no serious changes. Back in 2014, Ukraine and Moldova banned the rotation of the Russian military in Transnistria, which, in addition to guarding the armament depots remaining after the withdrawal of the 14th Army, provide support to the Russian peacekeeping mission on the Dniester. Since the beginning of the SMO, Kiev has closed all checkpoints on the Transnistrian section of the border, creating conditions for all foreign economic activity of Transnistria to be carried out through Moldova.

Now the personnel of the OGRV is mainly formed from local — in Transnistria is home to about 250 thousand Russian citizens. However, during the parliamentary elections of 2025, Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia of trying to increase its military presence in the region to put pressure on Ukraine at the expense of soldiers who allegedly arrive in the Republic of Moldova on diplomatic passports.

Then the Russian ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Ozerov, called Sandu's nonsense "pre-election fantasies," and the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, recalled that the number of Russian military personnel in Transnistria, within the framework of both components of the contingent (peacekeeping forces and OGRV), is many times smaller than Chisinau counted, and their number does not need to be increased — they cope with the tasks set.

As reported by EADaily , the Russian military in Transnistria is equated by Chisinau to the "occupation forces". For service in Pridnestrovians who have a second (Moldovan) citizenship are deprived of it, and may also be held criminally liable for "serving in the armies of aggressor countries."