17 people and a dog between Ukraine's neighbour and blackout: Report

The group at Moldova’s electricity utility tasked with keeping the country’s lights on were out of breath, running between meetings. 

Backed by a staff of 17, acting Energocom general director Victor Binzari and his two sidekicks have been scrambling to find new sources of power since mid-October, when Russian missile strikes took out the substations providing almost a third of Moldova’s electricity imports. 

The remaining two thirds disappeared earlier this month, after Moscow reduced natural gas supplies to the city.

Alomost overnight, Moldova had to start buying about 80 per cent of its power and half its natural gas from Europe.

On Tuesday, Russia’s