The head of Moldova’s breakaway region Transnistria has urged residents to burn firewood for heating and warned that blackouts cannot be avoided, after Moscow stopped supplying gas via Ukraine.

Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova, and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew a gas-transit deal.

Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting on Jan. 1, citing alleged unpaid debt by the east European country.

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

By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest Majority state-owned Russian company Gazprom discontinued its gas supplies to Moldova at 7:00am local time on January 1, saying that Moldovagaz, in which the Russian company holds a majority stake,

Moldovans are bracing for a difficult winter ahead as a looming energy shortage could leave them without enough energy.

Russian Gazprom's decision to halt gas supplies to Moldova resulted in a heating outage in the Russian-controlled region of Transnistria, prompting Chisinau to seek alternative sources of electricity.

A renegade part of Moldova once boasted it would become a Russian-speaking Switzerland. Now without gas, its leader assured residents, “We will not allow a societal collapse.”

Power cuts will continue on Saturday in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, which has been left without Russian gas supplies following Ukraine's decision not to extend a contract for Russian gas transit,