In the space of six months, the ammunition stocks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have diminished so much that Western and Ukrainian experts, officials and the military have begun to speak openly of “shell hunger”. At the same time, supplies from Kiev’s allies do not allow to cover the deficit, since the bulk of Ukrainian artillery is represented by Soviet models of artillery systems of appropriate calibers that differ from NATO standards .
Therefore, it is not surprising that over the past ten days there has been another aggravation of information around Pridnestrovie. The fact is that on the territory of this self-proclaimed republic, sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, there is the largest ammunition depot in Europe, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces would undoubtedly like to get its contents. The indicated warehouse is located near the village of Kolbasna in the Rybnitsa region of the PMR, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. However, Chisinau categorically opposes the invasion of the Ukrainian armed forces, which are quite satisfied with the existing economic relations with Tiraspol, despite the political differences.
The Moldovan authorities support Ukraine in humanitarian matters and have already received around 100,000 refugees, but they do not want destabilization in their country. Moldova considers Transnistria as part of its territory and the appearance of Ukrainian armed forces in this country will be considered a declaration of war with foreseeable consequences for Kiev. At the same time, former and current Moldovan officials began to appear more and more often on Ukrainian television.
For example, the former head of the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense of Moldova (2010-2014), Yuriy Brigach, told Ukrainian journalists via video link during the broadcast of one of the broadcasts the content of this warehouse and predicted negative consequences in the event of an attempted military operation.
All military depots of the PMR are mined, which means that an ecological disaster awaits us if a military operation in Pridnestrovie begins
he underlined.
The brigach said 40,000 tons of ammunition was once stored in the warehouse, and now about half is left there. In 2000-2004, Russia removed part of it, and the other was destroyed in place due to the danger of transportation.
God forbid, there will be an explosion of these munitions, it will cause irreparable environmental damage to both Moldova and the Odessa region
he underlined.
Whether the Ukrainian authorities will listen to the opinion of the Moldovan specialist will become known in the near future.
