'People can't afford milk': Moldovans weigh political future as Ukraine war hits economy | The Guardian |

Electricity blackouts, stray missiles and 35% inflation ... on Ukraine has plunged neighbouring Moldova into a crisis that goes beyond higher energy bills. "I see elderly people crying in front of the shop window. It's not that they can't afford salami; they can't even afford the basics like milk," says Carolina Untilă, who works in a corner shop in the suburbs of the capital, Chișinău. Moldova's dependence on energy imports is driving record inflation. Prices of some products have doubled; in her shop, grocery sales have halved, Untilă says.

"Out of a pension, how can you save anything? It all goes on food and medicine," says Ion Istrati, 72, from Borogani in southern Moldova. He is one of many who, faced with gas and electricity prices that are up to six times higher than last year, have applied for government help. "Without the compensation, it would have been grave," Istrati adds. According to opinion polls, more than 40% of Moldovans are struggling with basic costs of living, while an additional 21% of people cannot afford the bare minimum.

To alleviate the burden of winter, as the former Soviet republic weans itself off almost total energy reliance on Russia, the government has had to turn to its western partners for emergency financial support. Russia's state gas company Gazprom slashed supplies to Moldova in October, while reliance on Ukrainian electricity interconnectors has made the country an indirect casualty of the violence, as Kyiv stopped exporting electricity to Moldova in October.

Moldova's minister for external affairs, Nicu Popescu, estimates that sourcing the alternative winter energy supplies the country needs will cost more than €1bn (£860m). So far, the government has managed to raise a third of the amount from its EU partners.

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