 In the case of several army divisions, more than half of the personnel had deserted, choosing to remain in Bessarabia.The southern and northern parts, whose population was just over half ethnic minorities (Ukrainians, Bessarabian Bulgarians, Bessarabian Germans, and Lipovans), were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR as Izmail Oblast and as part of Chernivtsi Oblast.At the same time, the Moldavian ASSR, where ethnic Romanians were a plurality, was disbanded, and just under half of its territory was joined with the remaining territory of Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, coterminous with the present-day Moldova.