Moldova, Europe's poorest nation, sits next to a war it did not choose. This DW report visits the small country of 2.6 million as Russian threats mount: Moscow has kept troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria since 1992, and after Putin revokes a decree guaranteeing Moldovan sovereignty, President Maia Sandu warns of Russian plans for sabotage, attacks on government buildings, and hostage-taking. The cameras follow people absorbing the shock waves of the Ukraine war next door: Elena Cernei, who lives near the Ukrainian border, recalls packing her bags to flee; entrepreneur Anatolie Dicusar converts his factory into a warehouse for the more than 600,000 Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the country; blogger and musician Vova Karmanov puts down his instruments to film reports from post-Soviet conflict zones. Inflation above 30 percent and exploding energy prices squeeze a population already split over where its loyalties lie. Sandu's push for EU candidacy, granted in June 2022, runs through the film as the counterweight to Moscow's pressure.