CHISINAUNov 23 – Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have caused blackouts in half of neighboring Moldova, the Moldovan deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.
“Massive blackout in Moldova after today’s Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” Andrei Spînu, who is also the country’s infrastructure minister, said in a Twitter message.
“Moldelectrica, TSO (operator of the country’s transmission system), is working to reconnect more than 50% of the country to electricity.”
Power outages were also reported in Transnistria, the Russian-backed breakaway region’s interior ministry said in a statement.
In a separate message on the Telegram messaging app, Spînu said the situation is a repeat of what happened on November 15, when Moldova also suffered blackouts after Russian missile attacks.
Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe and has the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita. It shares a border with Ukraine, another former Soviet state, and is connected to its electricity grid.
Both the Moldovan police and Premier Energy, a Moldovan company that supplies electricity in the south and center of the country, called on the population to remain calm and take precautionary measures.
