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.

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

Authorities in Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region on Sunday cut off gas supplies to several state institutions as a deal allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine comes to an end at the close of the year.

Russian Gazprom's decision to halt gas supplies to Moldova resulted in a heating outage in the Russian-controlled region of Transnistria, prompting Chisinau to seek alternative sources of electricity.

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.

Transnistria, a breakaway Moldovan region, has stopped supplying heating and hot water to households after gas supplies to Europe from Russia via Ukraine were cut off. Source: Reuters Details: The interruption of gas supplies had an immediate impact on the region's population of about 450,