UBC engineering professor Ray Taheri will celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas this week in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, with plans to share a bit of joy during difficult times.

Transnistria has faced major problems due to the cessation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine. However, back in December, Moldova offered to buy European gas for the region, at its own expense, wrote the State Secretary for Energy of Moldova,

The end of Russian natural-gas transit across Ukraine is a blow to Moscow, but it could provide the Kremlin with sharpened tool for economic and political influence over a key target country: Moldova.

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.

Kyiv has finally turned off Russia’s gas supply to Europe, ending a source of income that helped pay for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The decades-old deal, which allowed the transit of natural gas produced by Russian energy giant Gazprom through Ukraine, ended at midnight on December 31, shutting down Russia’s last major gas corridor to Europe.

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,

Russian natural gas has stopped flowing to Europe via Ukraine after a five-year transit contract expired.

Russian-owned gas giant Gazprom announced in December it would halt gas supplies to Moldova over a dispute over an alleged $709 million debt for past supplies.

Russia halted gas supplies to Europe after Ukraine declined to renew a transit deal. Slovakia is considering retaliation against Ukraine. While the EU claims no immediate energy crisis, non-EU countries like Moldova face severe shortages and heating issues,

At least three people have been killed on both sides of the Russia-Ukrainian border on Friday, local officials said, as the grinding war nears its third anniversary. One person was killed in an attack on a residential building in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv,