Russia's war against Ukraine is increasingly affecting the countries of central and southeast Europe. Russian drones and missiles violating the continent's airspace have become commonplace, especially in Poland, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. Drones have exploded several times in southeastern Romania, forcing some villagers to be evacuated. It appears Russia is deliberately directing drones at Ukraine's neighbors, as recent incidents in Moldova and Romania have shown.

Now, for the first time, Moldova's energy grid has been impacted by a massive Russian attack on energy facilities in Ukraine. In the early hours of last Saturday (December 6), Russia struck Ukraine with more than 700 drones and missiles, damaging and destroying power plants throughout the country, among other things, as has been the case many times in recent months. Ukraine was not the only country to experience massive power outages as a result. Moldova, too, faced the risk of a major blackout or even a power grid collapse.

Moldova's energy monopolist Moldelectrica had to request emergency power assistance from Romania to stabilize its grid. A company spokesperson told DW this helped avoid a blackout. Even so, Moldelectrica and the government have called on Moldovans to save electricity in the coming days and weeks, and to cut back use at peak times in the morning and early evening. Moldovan Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu told Moldovan public broadcaster M1 that the situation is "fairly stable, but quite complex."

Putin testing EU, NATO

This is the first time a neighboring country's power grid has been harmed since Russia began its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022. Moldovan energy policy expert Sergiu Tofilat, who advises Moldovan President Maia Sandu, told DW that Russia takes such indirect damage into account when attacking Ukraine.

"This war is not as far away from Europe as it may seem," Tofilat told DW. "Putin is constantly testing the reactions of the EU and NATO."

Russia provoked a European gas crisis in the fall of 2021, sparking massive price hikes, Tofilat told DW.

"Now, we are seeing incidents like the one at the weekend, drones violating the airspace of European countries, and disruptions of aviation communications that Russia is using to wage a hybrid war in Europe," he said. "All of this has a massive impact on European economies and societies."

Limited domestic power production

Moldova's energy emergency resulted from its reliance on power imports. Since early 2025, Moldova has met only 30% to 40% of its electricity demand through domestic production, varying by season, with the remaining 60% to 70% of electricity sourced from abroad.

Moldova gets much of its electricity from EU countries and some from Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine and Moldova currently receive a joint quota of 2,100 megawatts of electricity as part of a European emergency power supply system. 15% of this output are reserved for Moldova, and when Ukraine does not use all of its 85%, the excess capacity goes to Moldova.

Moldova's recent power problems resulted from two factors. On the one hand, Ukraine was fully utilizing its 85% share of European power, leaving no extra capacity to spare for Moldova. On the other hand, several energy plants and substations in western Ukraine had been partly damaged and partly switched off to protect the grid, including those connected to Moldova. This risked plunging Moldova into a major power outage.

No long-term solution in sight

Moldelectrica did not want to provide details of the recent electricity problems, such as which power plants and power lines were particularly affected, or whether there were local power outages.

"This is sensitive national energy security information that could play a role in future Russian attacks, so we cannot make it public," a Moldelectrica spokesperson told DW. The spokesperson also refused to reveal what financial damage had been caused by the incident, and the extent of the import of emergency power.

Until late 2024, Moldova sourced most of its electricity from the Cuciurgan power plant in Transnistria, a Russian-backed separatist region in the country's east. The power plant runs on Russian-supplied gas.

However, since the beginning of 2025, Moldova has received virtually no gas from Russia, which halted the electricity supply from the Cuciurgan power plant. This forced Moldova to import massive amounts of electricity, primarily from Romania, where power is two to three times more expensive. The Moldovan government and Moldelectrica have not yet found a sustainable long-term solution to secure the country's domestic power needs.

Mobile generators could offer some respite

Energy expert Sergiu Tofilat believes that incidents like the latest one will happen again in the coming weeks and months, as Russia continues its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. He says a medium-term solution for Moldova would be buying a dozen modular mobile power generators that produce between 50 and 100 megawatts and run on diesel or gas. He says the country would also need to set up large battery storage facilities.

"Unfortunately, and this is ultimately also a consequence of Russian attacks on Ukraine, the price of electricity will rise in the short term," Tofilat told DW. "In the long term, we therefore have no choice but to build new power plants and more power lines to connect European countries."

This article was originally written in German.