Breakaway Moldovan region cuts heating and hot water as Russian gas flow ends

The breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria cut heating and hot water supplies to households on Wednesday after Russia stopped supplying gas to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine.

The severing of the gas flow was felt immediately in the mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia has about 1,500 troops stationed there.

"There is no heating or hot water," an employee of local energy company Tirasteploenergo told Reuters by phone. She said she did not know how long the situation would last.

The gas supply was cut in the early hours of Wednesday following the expiry of a gas transit agreement between warring neighbors Russia and Ukraine.

Transdniestria's leader, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said the situation was "not an easy one, but on the whole, we were...