WARSAW, April  5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Pro-Russian separatists in Moldova 
claimed Friday that an explosive drone hit a military base, without causing 
injuries or major damage, three weeks after an allegedly similar incident. 
       "Today at 1435 GMT, a kamikaze drone attacked a military base of the 
ministry of defence of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic in the district of 
Rybnitsa, six kilometres from the Ukraine border," the ministry for state 
security in the self-declared breakaway region said in a communique. 
       "The target was a radar station that suffered minor damage. A group of 
investigators is on-site," it added, without directly blaming Ukraine. 
       Transnistria -- a thin swathe of land between Moldova and Ukraine -- broke 
away from Moldova in 1992 after a brief conflict. 
       Russia still has 1,500 soldiers based there, according to official figures, 
which it says are part of a peace-keeping mission. 
       Moldova said authorities were analysing "all the images and information" 
related to the purported attack. 
       "The string of provocations in the region aimed at sowing panic and tension 
continues, including by drawing attention to the region," Moldova's 
reintegration bureau said in a statement published on Telegram. 
       On March 17, Transnistria claimed that a drone fired from Ukraine hit a 
military base in its capital Tiraspol, accusations that Moldova denounced as an 
attempt to provoke panic. 
       Meanwhile, Ukraine had accused Russia of being behind the attack with the 
aim of destabilising Moldova. 

       Russia has since the 1990s supported the breakaway region, which is largely 
Russian speaking, unlike the rest of Moldova where Romanian is the main 
language.
       Moscow frequently accuses Moldova and Ukraine of planning attacks on 
Transnistria, whose leaders in February asked for protection against what they 
said was "rising pressure" from Moldova.
 
       Transnistria borders the Ukrainian region of Odesa, which Russian forces 
failed to occupy in the early months of their offensive in Ukraine.