Aid sought for Moldova, hit hard by war in next-door Ukraine

By ANGELA CHARLTON and STEPHEN McGRATH
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Diplomats are drumming up money and other support Monday for Europe’s poorest country, Moldova. The former Soviet republic is suffering massive blackouts, heavy refugee flows and potential security threats from the war in neighboring Ukraine. The French Foreign Ministry says Monday’s international aid conference in Paris is aimed at “concrete and immediate assistance” for Moldova. Two previous conferences for Moldova this year raised hundreds of millions of euros, but as the war drags on, its needs are growing. Broad blackouts temporarily hit more than a half-dozen cities across Moldova last week as the Russian military pounded infrastructure targets across Ukraine.