Weekly Roundup: Ice, Drones and a Greenland Shaped Cake?

The Ice Descends on Chisinau

When compared to the last 10 years, Moldova is in the middle of an unusually cold winter. Snow that fell in early January is still on the ground and the capital’s lakes have frozen and provide space for a nice walk or a game of hockey.

But over the weekend the winter wonderland turned precarious as warmer temperatures began a snow melt and then quickly reverted - resulting in sheets of ice. Moldova does not have chemical treatments for roads and relies largely on sand. This worked well in high-traffic areas of Chisinau where the combination of lots of tires and the fact that asphalt is usually warmer than air temperature meant that most roads were ice free.

Not true for sidewalks and parking areas that are constructed of concrete pavers. These all froze solid into sheets. By the end of Sunday Chisinau’s emergency hospital set an all time record with 374 trauma injuries due to ice falls in a single day. This has continued since with medical personnel working long shifts and calls for people to put off non-emergency visits.

Chisinau initially closed schools on Monday but eventually extended this to the entire week with classes going remote. Balti did the same, and police suspended some intercity road travel in the north of the county. Truck traffic has been suspended at the border in some areas and the government declared that the start of any remaining classes and the workday itself would be delayed until 9 am all week.

Ice resulted in limited power outages in some villages and caused a fault at the Dubasari Hydroelectric Power Plant which resulted in a partial blackout of Dubasari and Corjova.

In spite of all of this strain, Moldova’s power grid and energy security situation is not showing signs of strain. Investments and lessons from past energy crises seem to have paid off in the first really cold winter since 2022. At the same time, the current situation in Ukraine is “close to a humanitarian catastrophe” according to Maxim Timchenko, director of the largest private power company in the country. With temperatures similar to, or colder than, Chisinau, 88,000 families in Kyiv had no power as of January 24th and Russian strikes continue to cripple Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Presidential Priorities for 2026

President Sandu gave a press conference about her priorities in 2026. Here is ...