Pro-Russian stronghold of Transdniestria assures that its capital was struck. Russia has supported this separatist territory of Moldova, a pro-European and Romanian-speaking country in the former USSR, bordering Ukraine.
Russia regularly claims that Moldova and Ukraine are preparing provocations or attacks there. The breakaway region neighbors Ukraine's Odessa region, which Moscow's forces failed to conquer when they invaded Ukraine in February 2024. The self-proclaimed republic seceded from Moldova after a short war in 1992.