CNN —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. It had been receiving Russian gas via Ukraine until the supply was cut off. The breakaway region’s parliament urged the Kremlin to reach a new deal with Ukraine over gas last month. Before the expiry of the transit deal with Ukraine, Russia had been supplying Moldova with around 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which was pumped through Transnistria, according to Reuters. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has meanwhile suggested he could cut electricity supplies to Ukraine and reduce aid to Ukrainian refugees in retaliation for the expiry of the gas transit deal, which he described as “sabotage” by Zelensky.

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Persons: Vadim Krasnoselskyi, ” “, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Krasnoselskyi, “, Robert Fico Organizations: CNN, Transnistria –, Reuters, Kremlin, Gazprom, Slovakian, Eastern Bloc Locations: Transnistria, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Europe, Moldova, Soviet Union, Tiraspol, Russia, Zelensky