‘Russian troops guarantee our safety’: How public opinion in breakaway Transnistria region in Moldova favours the east
On the edge of Europe is a pocket of pro-Russian support which has been under close watch since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Transnistria is a breakaway region in eastern Moldova which is politically, economically and militarily supported by Moscow.
Neither Moldova nor the wider international community recognise its independence.
In Transnistria’s capital, Tiraspol, hammer and sickle banners flutter in the wind as public opinion favours the east.
Andrey
“Transnistria and Russia are one structure and they have to be united,” says resident, Andrey, when asked if the Russian military should leave Transnistria.
This woman says she feels safe with Russian troops around
“The Russian troops here are our guarantee of safety. While they are here, we are safe,” a young woman adds.
Here, it’s neighbouring country, Ukraine, that’s been eyed with suspicion.
Last week, security services in the region said they’d thwarted a Ukrainian plot to murder officials including the separatist leader.
Kyiv has denied the allegations as Russian provocation.
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But the pro-Kremlin sentiment has left many people living a few miles away in pro-western Moldova feeling uneasy.
In the village of Calfa, allegiances are very different.
“I’m so close I can hear Transnistrian TV and radio. Every day they’re talking about war, about the invasion of Ukraine. We don’t believe them because they broadcast fake news,” says Ludmila Ceaglac, the local mayor.
Local mayor Ludmila Ceaglac
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, they’ve started feeling nervous of their neighbours.
“I understand they have a big base with weapons from the Second World War and this is our biggest fear. We don’t know if the weapons are active. We hope they won’t come here with their weapons because Moldova has a small army,” she explains.
While few analysts forecast a full-scale Russian invasion of Moldova via Transnistria, Moscow has been accused of launching a hybrid war including stirring up unrest at anti-government protests and spreading propaganda.
Last month, Moldova’s President Sandu said they had uncovered plans to use foreign saboteurs to stage a coup.
Russia’s foreign ministry rejected the allegations as “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated”.
On Sunday, Moldovan police arrested seven people accused of instigating unrest during anti-government protests.
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Police foil pro-Russia plot in Moldova
On a visit to the capital, the UK’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arrived with a message of support and £10m to help fight Russian interference.
“You are not alone,” he said in a meeting with his counterpart in the capital Chisinau.
“In his arrogance, Vladimir Putin has attempted to punish Moldova for doing those right things, and its incumbent on the UK to support Moldova on its journey in the right direction,” Mr Cleverly added.
Ministers aren’t preparing for Russian tanks to roll into Moldova but they say they are already fighting a war; a battle against Kremlin-backed disinformation and disruption aimed at spreading fear and unrest.
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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