The Battle of Tighina, also known as the Battle of Bender or the Battle of Bendery ( ro, Bătălia de la Tighina; russian: Битва за Бендеры, Bitva za Bendery), was fought between 19 and 21 June 1992 between

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, backed by

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

military advisor Military advisors, or combat advisors, advise on military matters. Some are soldiers sent to foreign countries to aid such countries with their military training, organization, and other various military tasks. The Foreign powers or organizations m ...

s and bought

weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

s from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

; and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, commonly known as

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

), an unrecognized breakaway state that declared independence from Moldova and relied on direct military support from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The battle occurred in Tighina, now better known as Bender, a mostly ethnic

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

city at the western bank of the

Dniester River The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

. This is different from the rest of currently Transnistrian-controlled lands, which are located at the eastern bank of it. Bender is the

name of the city and Tighina is the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

one. Tighina was one of the points of greatest fighting during the whole Transnistria War together with

Dubăsari Dubăsari ( ro, Dubăsari , Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet: Дубэсарь) or Dubossary (russian: Дубоссары; yi, דובאסאר; uk, Дубоcсари) is a city in Transnistria, with a population of 23,650. Claimed by both the Republic ...

, and the battle that occurred in the city was the bloodiest and biggest single incident in the conflict. Transnistria throughout the war had help from Russian regular troops and from the

14th Guards Army The 14th Guards Army () was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1956 to 1995. According to sources within the 14th Army, the majority of its troops came from the Pridnestrovian Moldavia ...

, which provided the

Armed Forces of Transnistria The Armed Forces of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic ( ro, Forțele armate ale Republicii Moldovenești Nistrene, Moldovan Cyrillic: Форцеле армате але Републичий Молдовенешть Нистрене; russian: ...

with weapons and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

, this being vital to the separatist victory in Tighina. As a response to the presence of Russian troops in Moldovan territory, the

President of Moldova The President of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The office of the presidency in Moldova is largely ceremonial, w ...

Mircea Snegur Mircea Snegur (; born 17 January 1940) is a Moldovan politician who was served as first President of Moldova from 1990–1997. Before that, he served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 1989–1990 (head of state) and Chairman ...

requested retaliation against Russia from the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN), receiving weak international support. Thus, on 21 July 1992, Moldova and Russia signed a ceasefire agreement that ended the Transnistria War. As a result of it, a so-called peacekeeping Russian military mission was installed in Transnistria and the latter started drifting apart from Moldovan institutions, becoming more independent from it. In Transnistria, the Battle of Tighina was referred to as the "

Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

of today" by Transnistrian media at the time and was often compared to the Eastern Front of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in which

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(USSR). Russia was and is seen today as a "savior", while the Moldovan and Romanian forces were and are seen as "nationalists" and "

fascists Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...

". On the other hand, in Moldova, the Battle of Tighina is nowadays seen as a provocation by "criminal" and "paramilitary" separatists made in order to disrupt the peace negotiation process of the conflict.

References

{{Transnistria conflict Transnistria War

Tighina Bender (, Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (russian: Бендеры, , uk, Бендери), also known as Tighina ( ro, Tighina), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the un ...

1992 in Moldova 1992 in Transnistria June 1992 events Bender, Moldova

See also

References