Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the meeting of Kiev's allies in Germany today, he announced in a video address.
"On Thursday, I will attend a meeting in the "Rammstein" format, and I also plan to hold talks with partners at the level of defense ministers and military commanders," Zelensky said.
He was referring to the meeting of Ukraine supporters hosted by the United States at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Meanwhile, Zelensky and Moldovan President Maia Sandu discussed the use of Ukrainian coal to alleviate the energy crisis in the separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"We are ready to help Moldova, including with coal supplies," Zelensky said in his evening video address after discussing the crisis with Sandu in a telephone conversation.
In a statement published on the website of the Moldovan presidency, Sandu said the two leaders agreed to find common solutions to prevent the humanitarian crisis from worsening, including through the use of alternative energy sources such as coal.
Transnistria has long relied on Russian gas supplies, but flows to the region via Ukraine were halted on January 1 after Ukraine refused to renew a gas transit agreement through its territory.
The pro-Russian separatist territory is facing an energy crisis and a humanitarian crisis, a local official warned today - a week after vital Russian gas supplies were cut off.
Until now, Russian giant "Gazprom" has been supplying gas to Transnistria through a local supplier, without the company paying for those supplies. The separatist region has been sending demands for payment to Chisinau, gradually increasing Moldova's debt to "Gazprom", notes Agence France-Presse.
The dispute over the unpaid debt to "Gazprom", which Moscow estimates at over $700 million and Chisinau at around $9 million, has led Russia to suspend supplies since January 1.
Since then, Transnistria authorities have been forced to cut off electricity supplies and close many industries.
The head of the local economic affairs department, Sergei Obolonyk, said the small territory had fallen into an energy crisis, but also into a humanitarian crisis. He said 13 million cubic meters of gas had been set aside in reserve before the supply cuts. According to him, this amount is currently enough to power some infrastructure and gas stoves in the kitchens of apartment buildings. But this reserve will last only 24 days.
The crisis has been accompanied by a sharp increase in electricity consumption, as residents compensate by using individual electric heaters, Obolonik said.
There is only one thermal power plant in Transnistria with limited capacity. To avoid overloading the grid, authorities last week introduced a power regime with two four-hour outages per day.
Separatist authorities have suggested that some suspended enterprises could operate at night, when electricity consumption is lowest.
For now, the rest of Moldova has been spared the power outage, thanks in part to aid from neighboring Romania and after Chisinau took drastic measures to reduce consumption.