Any just and lasting peace agreement to the Ukraine conflict must account for a Crimea free of Russian occupation for the sake of regional peace and security. Crimea, under Putin’s control, would likely turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake,

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.

Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova, and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew a gas-transit deal.

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.

Moldova’s Transnistria region has been thrust into an energy crisis following the termination of a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

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.

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.

(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Wednesday discussed using Ukrainian coal to ease the energy crisis which has subjected Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region to blackouts and a heating shortage.

The Russian president celebrated his 50th birthday at a winery in Moldova. After the invasion of Ukraine, it moved the bottles he was given away from public view.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited areas hit by rolling power cuts on Thursday and blamed Russian gas giant Gazprom for the energy crisis gripping the country's Transdniestria pro-Russian separatist enclave.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Wednesday discussed using Ukrainian coal to ease the energy crisis which has subjected Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region to blackouts and a heating shortage.