KYIV: Ukraine will face rolling electricity blackouts Wednesday to try to ensure supplies after Russian strikes on Ukrainian power plants, the country’s national grid operator said.

A string of Russian missile and drone bombardments on Ukraine’s thermal and hydro power plants have halved the war-battered country’s generation capacity compared to last year, Kyiv has said.

“All regional power distribution companies will apply hourly outage schedules for industrial and household consumers from 00:00 to 24:00,” the operator Ukrenergo announced Tuesday.

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The announcement represents a significant broadening of the outages, which officials have tried to limit to certain hours, mainly in the afternoon.

Ukrenergo said it was projecting an increase in consumption across the country due to warmer weather. Critical infrastructure would not be impacted, it added.

Ukrainian officials have been forced to ramp up imports of electricity from neighbouring European Union countries to make up the shortfalls and have urged allies to help restore the embattled energy sector.

Kyiv has also called on its allies to bolster Ukrainian air defence systems to protect critical infrastructure from Russian missile and drone barrages.

Ukrenergo had warned this week that the outages were likely to become more serious in coming weeks. Officials say repair work on the damaged plants could take years and will cost millions of dollars.