In the capital of Transnistria, a Kremlin-backed microstate sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, the festive New Year’s lights have gone dark ahead of schedule. This separatist sliver of Moldova will run out of energy in three weeks,

Many Ukrainians have fled to Moldova to escape the war in their country. The Moldovan government has made the process easier to accommodate them. A shared history as former Soviet states, along with shared bilingualism,

(Reuters) - Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniestria extended its state of emergency on Friday for another month as it grapples with an energy crisis after losing access to Russian gas supplies that had propped up its economy for decades.

"An important task now is to help Moldova overcome its energy challenges and prevent Moscow from stirring up social tensions. ... We are ready to help," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 8.

"We are ready to assist Moldova, including with coal supplies," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address after discussing the crisis with Sandu by telephone. Sandu, in a statement issued on the presidential website,

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is ready to provide Moldova with the resources necessary to overcome the energy crisis that occurred in the

The head of Moldova’s breakaway region Transnistria has urged residents to burn firewood for heating and warned that blackouts cannot be avoided, after Moscow stopped supplying gas via Ukraine.

International recognition of Russia’s occupation of Crimea in exchange for an end to the war in Ukraine would only harm U.S. and European interests and destabilize Eastern Europe.

More than 51,000 households were left without gas and 1,500 apartment buildings had no winter heat in Moldova's pro-Russian separatist enclave, authorities said on Monday, as Moldova and Russia traded blame for an escalating energy crisis.

The end of Russian natural-gas transit across Ukraine is a blow to Moscow, but it could provide the Kremlin with sharpened tool for economic and political influence over a key target country: Moldova.

Authorities in Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region on Sunday cut off gas supplies to several state institutions as a deal allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine comes to an end at the close of the year.

Moscow breakaway region of Transnistria halted almost all industrial activity except for food production, following the end of Russian gas flows through Ukraine, Interfax reported.