 The Fall of France, a guarantor of Romania's borders, on 22 June, is considered to be an important factor in the Soviet decision to issue the ultimatum.On August 2, 1940, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, encompassing most of Bessarabia, as well as a portion of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic located on the left bank of the Dniester (now the breakaway Transnistrian state).The Hertza region, and the regions inhabited by Slavic majorities (northern Bukovina, Northern and Southern Bessarabia) were included in the Ukrainian SSR.