The peace enjoyed now by the Republic of Moldova is very fragile and depends on the Ukrainians’ resistance, said expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” Igor Munteanu. According to the expert, the small victories achieved by the Ukrainian army in the recent past can incline the balance during the peace negotiations between the delegations of the two states. Alexandru Flenchea, who served as Deputy Prime Minster for Reintegration, said that a ceasefire agreement similar to that of 1991, in the case of the Transnistrian region, can be reached during the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, IPN reports.
Political commentators said the developments in Ukraine reveal multiple tactical mistakes of the Kremlin, which underestimated the capacities of the Ukrainian army and hoped for a quick victory over Ukraine.
“The peace enjoyed currently by the Republic of Moldova is very fragile and depends on the military developments in Ukraine and on the resistance of the Ukrainians who now sacrifice their lives, cities. No one expected such a devastating war that caused over 5,000 victims among civilians in Mariupol alone. The Ukrainian army now recovered slightly and things around Kyiv calmed down. These small victories that are not fundamental, but are important for the spirits of the Ukrainians lead to a change of rhetoric on the part of Kiev, of the team that will negotiate in Istanbul,” Igor Munteanu stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau.
For his part, Alexandru Flenchea said Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine makes the situation tense all over the world and reveals elements of extensive economic and information warfare.
“We are now an indirect party to a much greater war. We have all the elements of hybrid warfare. We have an unprecedented world economic war. The regional conflicts in Caucasus are reactivated. We entered a phase when the end of the operations in Ukraine will not mean the end of the war. We will yet have many years of tensions, of smaller and larger local conflicts. The Republic of Moldova will remain under a military threat because the Russian army in Ukraine will not leave the coming years, because what will happen there will be a kind of ceasefire agreement similar to the one we saw in 1992,” stated the former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration.
Romanian foreign policy expert Armand Goșu said the whole Western world took sides with Ukraine. The NATO member states furnish the Ukrainian political elite with relevant information about the Kremlin’s intentions and the Ukrainian army with modern military equipment.
“The NATO member states do not intervene in this war against Russia because this would be a world war, because Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal. But it is not right to say that Ukraine is not helped. Ukraine wouldn’t have resisted if it hadn’t been helped and not only with information provided in real time by the Brits and Americans, but also with armament. All the lines of damaged tanks we see by the side of Ukrainian roads were destroyed not with Soviet armament, but with Western armament. Ukraine daily receives substantial military assistance from the Western political allies. They now switched to the war of position stage. Starting with March 15, we have seen initially timid and now more consistent Ukrainian counterattacks. The Russian forces have been pushed away from the Ukrainian capital,” stated Armand Goșu.
A new round of negotiation between the delegations of Ukraine and Russia is to be held today, March 29, in Istanbul, as the Turkish presidential administration announced. Turkey chose to mediate the discussions between the two sides.