It’s 7 in Kyiv in the morning. Here’s what you need to know

Ukrainian authorities are talking about the risk of opening another front in the conflict with Russia – on the border with Moldova to the southwest.

Part of Moldova’s border region is controlled by a pro-Russian administration in what is called Transnistria. Unexplained explosions there earlier this week prompted Ukrainian authorities to claim that Russian security services were planning provocations in Transnistria as a pretext for opening a new front in the war.

Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky, told Ukrainian television on Wednesday: “We have always seen Transnistria as a springboard from which there may be some risks for us, because [the] Odessa and Vinnytsia regions.

There is definitely [military] contingent of Russians, it is somewhere between 1500-2000 people, of which only 500-600 are Russians, “said Podoliak.

But he said most people in Transnistria are integrated into Moldova and Europe.

“Therefore, for Transnistria, active participation in the conflict in Ukraine will in practice mean complete isolation and destruction of the enclave,” Podoliak said.

Podoliak suggested that Russia was trying to provoke Ukraine through the incidents in Transnistria this week.

Roman Kostenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament in Odessa, said Transnistria did not pose a strategic threat to Ukraine.

“This could be a tactical threat in some direction to bind our troops,” the official said.

Kostenko said the Russians relied on Transnistria as “another front that can directly support them when attacking, for example, Nikolaev, Odessa from the sea, because Nikolaev is blocking the land corridor.”

The Ukrainian defense around the city of Nikolaev prevented Russian forces from reaching Odessa by land.

Ukraine’s far southwest is now cut off from the rest of the country after a road and rail bridge over the Dniester estuary was hit by a second cruise missile on Wednesday after being struck for the first time on Tuesday. Russia has not said it fired the missile.

Ukraine’s southern military command says Russian submarines continue to threaten missile strikes from the Black Sea. “Enemy forces are also preparing provocations with missile strikes on Transnistria to accuse Ukraine of attacking the unrecognized republic,” the statement said.