Moldova suffered a major power outage on Jan. 31, leaving most of its capital without electricity in the morning and halting trolleybuses and traffic lights. <\/p>\n
Parts of Moldova experienced power disruptions when Ukraine reported<\/a> “a cascade shutdown” in its power grid due to technical malfunctions on high-voltage lines connecting the two countries’ power systems. Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said<\/a> transmission lines between Romania and Moldova, as well as between western and central Ukraine, were disrupted. <\/p>\n Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban urged<\/a> residents to remain calm after reporting widespread power outages across the capital at around 11 a.m. local time. <\/p>\n The Ukrainian authorities are still vague about the exact cause of the disruption. Kyiv has ruled out a cyberattack. <\/p>\n Moldova’s Energy Ministry wrote<\/a> on Facebook that the voltage on the 400 kiloWatt Isaccea\u2013Vulcanesti\u2013MGRES line had dropped at around 11 a.m. local time, disrupting the country’s electrical system.<\/p>\n The ministry said the drop was caused by the Ukrainian energy system facing \u201cserious problems,\u201d adding that Moldova\u2019s state-owned transmission system operator, Moldelectrica, has already restored power supply in some locations. <\/p>\n Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine is enduring “a significant power shortage<\/a>” as Russia ramps up its energy blitz<\/a>, targeting Ukrainian critical infrastructure with missiles and drones. <\/p>\n The Kyiv Independent asked five Moldovans about their experiences during the power outage and whether it has affected their perception of Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n Ludmila Botnaru, Chisinau-based actor:<\/p>\n “At my house, we had no electricity at 11 a.m., but then it came back. At the theater, we had no electricity, but then it came back. We weren\u2019t sure whether we would be able to play tonight, but we were told electricity would get back. <\/p>\n “Russians \u2013 who else \u2013 are to blame for this.”<\/p>\n Doina Bejenaru, a local resident in Chisinau: <\/p>\n “I have electricity in my flat, but half of my neighbourhood doesn’t \u2013 you can\u2019t even make a coffee. I am now at the supermarket, and it is full. But further up, the other supermarkets don\u2019t have electricity and aren’t working.<\/p>\n “Who\u2019s to blame for this? Russians are bombing \u2013 they are bombarding Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”<\/p>\n Ana Lungu, a local resident in Chisinau:<\/p>\n “We have not had any electricity for four hours, since 10.30 a.m. I had put food in the oven, but then switched to gas. My kid had some TV detox. Our heating was on \u2013 we have a centralized system.<\/p>\n “Of course, the Russians are to blame for this. Or maybe our government tried to show us how Ukrainians feel – I am, of course, joking.”<\/p>\n Serghei Cerneavschi, a local resident in Criuleni:<\/p>\n “It affects me, how does it not? I have a fridge, TV\u2026 I haven\u2019t had electricity since the morning. Our government is to blame for this, god damn it! They cut electricity to save money. They always blame the Russians and the war in Ukraine. But it\u2019s them! Guys from Orhei, Ciorescu called me to tell me they have no power either. They say there will be electricity around 3 p.m., but I can see how they will only connect us by 6 p.m.”<\/p>\n Raisa Cojocaru, a local resident in Mindic:<\/p>\n “We haven\u2019t had electricity for an hour. These things happen \u2013 it\u2019s no big problem. Who\u2019s to blame? I don\u2019t know. There are many provocations now, that\u2019s what my son told me, so I stay away from commenting. I try to think positively. The prime minister and the president are not to blame. It would have been bad if the electricity had been cut in kindergartens, but on a Saturday it\u2019s okay. <\/p>\n “I don\u2019t even want to think about the connection to the war in Ukraine. I pray to God that the war ends.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moldova suffered a major power outage on Jan. 31, leaving most of its capital without electricity in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-445702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}