Most towns across Moldova were left without electricity on the morning of January 31 after a failure in the national power grid caused by a combination of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and severe frost affecting a key transmission line, authorities said.

The outage disrupted daily life across the country. In the capital, Chisinau, trolleybuses stopped operating, traffic lights failed and dozens of people were trapped in elevators. Hospitals and other strategic institutions switched to backup generators, while rescuers, police officers and energy workers were placed on alert to respond to emergencies.

The Ministry of Energy said the blackout was triggered when a segment of the Vulcănești–MoldGRES overhead power line, located on Ukrainian territory, failed due to frost on the morning of January 31. The incident coincided with other technical problems in Ukraine’s energy system, activating automatic protection mechanisms and cutting supplies to Moldova.

Repair works on the Vulcănești–MoldGRES line were completed in the afternoon of February 1, the ministry announced. It said the line had been reconnected, put under voltage and synchronised, allowing the restoration of electricity supplies across the country.

During the outage, Moldova relied on emergency imports to stabilise the system. The Ministry of Energy said that until the reconnection of the energy node at MoldGRES on February 1, around 205 MW of electricity were imported from Romania through 110 kV interconnections that are not usually in operation. An additional 320 MW were transited from Romania via an alternative route.

“Until the connection of the energy node at MGRES, on February 1, approximately 205 MW of electricity were imported from Romania through the 110 kV interconnections usually not operated, with another 320 MW being transited from Romania via an alternative route,” the ministry said.

The authorities have not reported any casualties linked to the blackout, but the incident highlighted Moldova’s vulnerability to regional energy disruptions amid ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure and harsh winter conditions affecting cross-border transmission lines.