Explainer: How is Trans-Dniester related to war in Ukraine?

Destroyed radio antennas lie on the ground in Maiac, in the Moldovan separatist region of Trans-Dniester, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Picture: Press Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic via AP, HO

Among the sites of the former Soviet Union’s “frozen conflicts,” a long and narrow strip of land in Moldova has been the most stable for three decades. Trans-Dniester hasn’t seen fighting since the end of a separatist war in 1992.

But explosions in the past two days have raised concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine could extend there.