I wonder what will happen to them if Ukraine loses to Russia. I have heard Moldova already has issues with Russian separatists.
EDIT: Changed an offensive use of a definitive article. ;)
EDIT: Changed an offensive use of a definitive article. ;)
The history of that area is complex. Moldova itself was part of the Ottoman Empire, then it was ceded to the Russian Empire, united with Romania, then the whole are became part of the USSR... and after the dissolution of the USSR, Transnistria became an unregognized, but de facto autonomous "country". Moldovians see the area as still part of Moldova (with some still considering the whole country as part of Romania!). The EU sees it as a Russian-occupied area since Russia supports the local government, and without Russian support the Moldavian Government would've probably taken over the area already (it's a frozen conflict area... Eastern Ukraine is headed for the same destiny, it seems).
However, it remains to be seen if the war in Ukraine can be frozen. If a certain large supporter of Ukraine stops the support, Ukrainians might simply lose it all. But will Russia stop there?
it doesn't, Russia hasn't officially annexed Transnistria as it did with occupied Ukrainian territories
EDIT: Found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine#Etymology_and_orthogra... now. Thanks for the correction!
It's the difference between a descriptive name for a region and the name of a sovereign country. This is particularly relevant given the repeated attempts to conquer it and make it no longer a sovereign country.
The point is that in English, adding the definite article makes it sound like a region rather than a country: "the mountains", "the veldt", "the border land".
Removing the article is appropriate for a country, unless grammatically necessary like "The United States of America", but not "The America" or "The Germany".
See here for some backstory and history: