New blackouts in Moldova after Russian missiles land in Ukraine

Following the Wednesday landing of Russian missiles in Ukraine, a series of power disruptions led to the closure of many nuclear power plants, OilPrice reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu claimed Thursday on Twitter that the missiles also caused significant energy disruptions in the neighboring country of Moldova, with that nation reporting that half of the country was currently experiencing blackouts.

Most of the capital city of Chisinau, where a third of the Moldovan population resides, had electricity restored within a few hours, the BBC informed.

The strikes on Ukraine on November 15 also caused severe power outages in Moldova, according to Spinu. Mobile networks were adversely impacted as well.

In order to safeguard the system, one of the connecting points on the power line between Moldova and neighboring Romania automatically shut down if Ukraine was damaged, according to energy policy researcher Sergiu Tofilat.

“We reconnect once Ukraine has assessed the damage,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “left Moldova in the dark,” according to Moldovan President Maia Sandu, in reaction to the power disruptions, the BBC reported.

“Russia’s war in Ukraine kills people, destroys residential blocks and energy infrastructure with missiles,” she wrote on Facebook. “But the electricity supply can be restored. We will solve the technical problems and we will have light again. All state institutions are working in this direction.”

This week, Russian Gazprom slammed Ukraine for delaying gas shipments that were initially meant for Moldova. In the event that Ukraine does not release the gas to its intended recipient, Gazprom has threatened to halt gas shipments to Moldova.

The claim from Gazprom has been refuted by Moldova. Upwards of 200 million cubic meters of Russian gas are presently being stored in Ukraine for use by Moldova, according to Spinu’s Facebook post on Wednesday.

“To be clear, all the gas delivered to Moldova ends up in our country. The volumes of gas that Gazprom refers to as remaining in Ukraine are our savings and reserves stored in warehouses in Ukraine. Let it also be clear that these volumes were and will be fully paid for by our country,” Spinu said.

Reduced Russian gas shipments have already adversely affected Moldova, combined with its reliance on imports of power.

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