Marion Gauthier 2:01 p.m., March 08, 2022

The war in Ukraine worries the neighboring countries, Poland which hosts thousands of refugees, but also Moldova, which has already experienced fighting during a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the East.

Our special correspondent met two veterans of this 1992 war. If they fear a wider conflict, these men say they are ready to take up arms again. 

REPORT

The war continues in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin, determined, intensifies his offensive around the capital Kiev.

The neighboring countries, particularly Moldova, which already experienced fighting in 1992, are increasingly worried about this conflict.

Our special correspondent met two veterans of the war in Moldova.

The two men fear an escalation but say they are ready to take up arms again. 

"We are ready to defend our homeland"

"I already have my weapons!", confides, Veacelav, nervous sixties, a fitted t-shirt where the word "Revolution" stands out, dark, piercing eyes.

He was leading the special forces when the Moldovan army clashed with the pro-Russian separatists…

"During the war, it is the children, the elderly, the civilian populations who are affected. We as soldiers stand ready to defend our homeland. Putin is not going to stop at Ukraine: we are preparing to put up resistance," he said. 

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"The conflict will be even more inhuman"

The voluble veteran enumerates the tanks, the artillery dormant for thirty years on the other side of the Dniester, and these Moldavians whom he trains for an unequal combat.

His comrade remembers and trades his good nature for seriousness.

“Every morning a tractor came, full of corpses. It transported them to the mass grave. That is the face of war. Today, if there is an armed conflict here, it will be different. will be even dirtier, more atrocious, more inhuman," he predicts. 

“Ukraine… as a shield”, they admit, before solitude: the two grandfathers doubt that a Western power will engage militarily against Vladimir Putin to defend their land, that of their grandchildren.