The small chain of port cities in the south of Ukraine could determine the fate of a nation besides its own.
According to U.S and European analyst, the Ukrainian city of Odessa is the last buffer between Putin’s army and the sovereign nation of Moldova. The country of 3 million people would be largely out outgunned by the Russian army, and would be able to do little to stop a further westward expansion. The existence of a Pro-Russian, unrecognized breakaway region Transnistria, complicates the situation. Observers believe that the pro-Russian region, which sits along the Ukrainian border could tempt Putin to see opportunities parallel to that of pro-Russian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. “Is Moldova a target? Is Moldova not a target? We don’t know,” Moldovan Ambassador Eugen Caras said in a recent interview at his nation’s embassy in Washington.
