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,

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.

"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,

Zelenskyy made the statement after a phone call with Moldovan President Maia Sandu earlier the same day. “Of course, the main goal is to help Moldova through this difficult period of energy challenges and prevent Moscow from inciting social unrest,

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.

The New Year got off to a bang across the region, with no shortage of political fireworks. This week's selection of Balkan Insight Premium stories looks at what the coming year may hold for some of the countries of South-East Europe.

Every time planned electrical outages are imposed on his village in southern Moldova, 73-year-old retiree Vasili Donici passes the time solving crosswords and puzzles in a room he illuminates with a small gas lamp.

Russia halted gas deliveries to the pro-Russia separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova on January 1. The people there are now really feeling the cold.

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.