Cobasna (

Moldovan Cyrillic The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union (Moldovan language, Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use ...

: Кобасна; , ''Kovbasna''; , ''Kolbasnaya'') is a commune in northern

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

that is composed of three villages: Cobasna, Cobasna station, and Suhaia Rîbnița. It is controlled by the self-proclaimed authorities of

. It is located 2 km from the border with

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, in

Rîbnița District The Rîbnița District (; ; ) is an administrative district of Transnistria (''de facto'') in Moldova (''de jure''). Its seat is the city of Rîbnița, sometimes spelt as "Râbnița". It is located at . The district contains this city and 22 othe ...

. Cobasna is the site of a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n, and formerly

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

ammunition depot Supply depots are a type of military installation used by militaries to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to military units. Supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of ...

known as the

Cobasna ammunition depot The Cobasna ammunition depot, formally the 1411th Artillery Ammunition Depot (; ), is a large ammunition depot located in the village of Cobasna. Legally and internationally recognized as part of Moldova as a whole, the unrecognized breakaway ...

. It has been referred to as the largest in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

History

Kiełbaśna, as it was known in Polish, was a private village of the

Zamoyski The House of Zamoyski (plural: Zamoyscy) is an important Poland, Polish noble (''szlachta'') family Magnates of Poland and Lithuania, belonging to the category of Polish magnates. They used the Jelita coat of arms. The surname "Zamoyski" litera ...

Koniecpolski The House of Koniecpolski (plural: Koniecpolscy) is the name of an old and once powerful Polish noble family. History The Koniecpolski was a magnate family. The family appears in the historical annals beginning in the 15th century. The family ...

Lubomirski The House of Lubomirski is a Princely Houses of Poland, Polish princely family. The Lubomirski family's coat of arms is the Drużyna coat of arms, which is similar to the Szreniawa coat of arms but without a cross. Origin and the coat ...

and Moszyński

noble families Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

successively, administratively located in the Bracław County in the

Bracław Voivodeship The Bracław Voivodeship (; ; , ''Braclavśke vojevodstvo'') was a unit of administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Created in 1566 as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was passed to the Crown of the Kingdom of Pola ...

in the Lesser Poland Province of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

. Following the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

, it was annexed by

. In the 19th century, it remained a possession of Polish nobility, passing to the Jurjewicz family. In the late 19th century, it had a population of 1,167. In 1924, it became part of the

Moldavian Autonomous Oblast The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, shortened to Moldavian ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing the modern territory of Transnistria (today ''de jure'' in M ...

, which was soon converted into the

Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, shortened to Moldavian ASSR, was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing the modern territory ...

, and the

Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...

in 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. From 1941 to 1944, it was administered by

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

as part of the

Transnistria Governorate The Transnistria Governorate () was a Romanian-administered territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. A Romanian civilian administration governed the territo ...

. The majority of the original ammunition has either disappeared or has been removed from Cobasna under

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE) supervision. Military equipment which was impractical to remove has undergone on-site destruction as per Moldovan demands that the "weapons dump" of Transnistria be removed. In 2003, the process to remove the arms broke down when the

Kozak memorandum The Kozak memorandum, officially Russian Draft Memorandum on the Basic Principles of the State Structure of a United State in Moldova, was a 2003 proposal aimed at a final settlement of relations between Moldova and Transnistria and a solving of ...

was rejected by Moldovan president

Vladimir Voronin Vladimir Voronin (; born Vladimir Bujeniță, 25 May 1941) is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova#Republic of Moldova (1991–present), President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the leader of the Party of ...

. Today, around 22,000 tons of military equipment and ammunition reportedly remain there, guarded by Russian troops. 1,500 troops of the Operational Group of Russian Forces are stationed in the area. On 27 April 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria reported that drones flew over Cobasna and that shots were fired on the village. The ministry claimed that the drones came from Ukraine. Several attacks had recently occurred in Transnistria at the time. They occurred during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, and may have been a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

operation by Russia or Transnistria itself. According to the 2004 census, the population of the village was 1,396 inhabitants, of which 334 (23.92%) Moldovans, 936 (67.04%) Ukrainians and 107 (7.66%) Russians.The Transnistrian census of 2004 data by nationality at http://pop-stat.mashke.org/pmr-ethnic-loc2004.htm

Notes

References

External links

OSCE arms control and disarmament
osce.org * http://www.blackseanews.net/en/read/68688 {{Transnistria, Moldova Communes of Transnistria Military installations of the Soviet Union Ammunition dumps Rîbnița District