From 1924–1929, the city was the capital of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. With the annexation of Bessarabia in 1940, Balta became a part of the Odessa Oblast of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was occupied by German and Romanian troops on 5 August 1941 and became part of Transnistria Governorate in Kingdom of Romania until its liberation on 29 March 1944 by Red Army.