Ukraine offers Moldova coal in return for electricity

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday offered to deliver coal to neighbouring Moldova as its breakaway region of Transnistria grapples with a severe energy crisis.

“We will give them coal, we are ready to talk about a low price or even give it for free, if we get electricity from the coal in return,” said Zelensky during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, according to Ukrainian media.

Ukraine is suffering from a scarcity of electricity supply due to systematic Russian attacks on the country’s grid.

Moldova is also in distress after Moscow stopped natural gas deliveries at the start of the year.

Moscow blamed Moldova’s pro-EU government for the cut off, accusing it of not paying its debts. Sandu, however, accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to generate instability in Moldova by using energy as a weapon.

In a twist, the place hardest hit by Moscow’s decision to close the taps is the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria that borders Ukraine, where Moscow has long played a major role in daily life.

For weeks now, many of Transnistria’s residents have been surviving without heating in the middle of winter.

Ukrainian coal deliveries could theoretically alleviate the problem for all parties involved, especially since the large power plant in Transnistria has already been converted from gas to coal-fired.

According to Zelensky, the capacity at the power plant is 10 times the region’s electricity consumption. This means that it could supply all of Moldova with electricity as before and also export electricity to Ukraine.

However, it is unclear whether the Moscow-friendly leadership in Transnistria will accept the offer, despite the suffering residents are enduring.

So far, Transnistria’s leaders have mainly repeated Moscow’s accusations that the Moldovan government in Chișinău is to blame for the crisis.

Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moldovan politicians have repeatedly expressed great concern about their country becoming a new battleground for Moscow.

The Transnistria region broke away from Moldova in the 1990s.