Will Moldova be dragged into Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine?

as she waits for the bus to Romania. She has just walked seven kilometres from Ukraine into Moldova and is trying to move on as quickly as she can. Hundreds of Ukrainians around her are making the same choice. “I can’t stay here,” she says. “Putin will destroy this country too.” Moldova, which is not a member of either or the European Union, is in a state of deep anxiety. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, some 260,000 Ukrainians have entered Moldova and around 101,000 of them are still there. Relative to its population (just 2.6m), Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has experienced the fastest influx of refugees of any of Ukraine’s neighbours. “We are approaching breaking-point,” says its foreign minister, Nicu Popescu.