Ukraine's national power distributor Ukrenerho on July 5 announced a "tougher" schedule of rolling blackouts across the country as it tries to cope with damage to infrastructure inflicted by Russian bombardments in its 28-month-old full-scale invasion.
It said two rounds of hourly shutdowns between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. will increase to three rounds during "the rest of the day."
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It said the changes mean "approximately half of consumers will be without light at the same time."
Russia has increasingly targeted infrastructure in missile and drone attacks in recent months, although it has denied widespread evidence it is also targeting Ukrainian civilians.
Ukrenerho had increased the use of rolling blackouts to consumers as recently as last month, but said electricity supplies for critical infrastructure would not be restricted.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy told senior military officials in June that he hoped to develop a renewable energy infrastructure in response to the attacks, so that "solar panels, smart meters, and energy storage facilities should appear in every school and hospital as soon as possible."
As the stepped-up Russian air attacks on power and cities, Ukrainian drones have struck deeper inside Russia, damaging energy facilities critical for Moscow's military effort, mainly oil installations.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on July 5 that it thwarted a Ukrainian-ordered "criminal" attack on a defense facility in the Samara region of southwest Russia, although RFE/RL could not independently confirm the incident.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 50 Ukrainian attack drones over Russia's Krasnodar and Rostov regions and in the occupied Zaporizhzhya region of Ukraine.
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Ukrainian Air-Defense Unit Shoots Down Drones From U.S.-Supplied Boat
Although outgunned, Ukraine has also waged a surprisingly effective naval campaign on the shared Black Sea over the course of the war.
On July 5, the commander of Ukraine's navy, Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, told Reuters that Russia had been forced to relocate "almost all" of its combat-capable ships from occupied Crimea to other locations. He said Russia's main naval center was being rendered "ineffective" as a result of Ukrainian efforts.
But Russian forces have made gradual territorial gains over the past six months, including capturing a district in the strategically important highland town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP