Blasts hit ministry in Moldova’s Transnistria, near Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News

Officials say unknown assailants attacked the state security ministry in Tiraspol using grenade launchers.

Officials in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria have reported several explosions at the state security ministry following what it called a grenade-launcher attack.

No injuries were immediately reported from Monday’s assault.

In a statement on Facebook, the interior ministry of Transnistria said the attack took place in the city of Tiraspol at 6pm (15:00 GMT) on a public holiday for the Orthodox Easter.

It said some of the building’s windows were broken and that “smoke is billowing out of” the structure.

Preliminary information shows the attackers had used a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, it added.

The Pervy Pridnestrovsky television channel cited witnesses as saying they had heard several blasts. De-miners, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene.

The TVS television showed a picture of a grenade launcher abandoned at the scene.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 soldiers there, calling them peacekeepers, but concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Moldova said it was “concerned” about Monday’s attack.

“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,” the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

This attack comes after a senior Russian military official last week raised the issue of Russian speakers in Transnistria in the context of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

Major General Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of the central military district, said on Friday that Russia sought control of southern Ukraine, which could provide access to Transnistria, “where there have been cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population”.

The comments echoed one of Moscow’s justifications for the war in Ukraine.

Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador over Minnekaev’s comments, which it called “unfounded and contradicting Russia’s position in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country within internationally recognised borders”.

The United States has previously warned that Russian forces could launch “false-flag” operations to create a pretext for invading the territory of other nations.

Russian officials have rejected such charges.