The people of Ukraine are again being forced to go without electricity as winter draws close.

On Wednesday, officials at state-run utility Ukrenergo went ahead with a series of planned nationwide outages to conserve energy.

And authorities say Russia's attacks on key infrastructure could mean more blackouts in the coming weeks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of attempting to "turn the cold of winter into a weapon of mass destruction." He also called on other countries to step up their support for Ukraine.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday that emergency shutdowns are likely because temperatures are dropping and electricity consumption is rising.

The conflict is stretching resources on both sides. Officials at the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, say Russia's arsenal of high-precision missiles has been significantly depleted.

At the same time, they say Russian forces are likely to launch massive attacks on critical infrastructure in the near future.

Fighting has recently intensified in eastern Ukraine.

Russian troops are also shelling the key southern city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces retook earlier this month.

The civilian death toll is rising. On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said an infant was killed in a Russian missile attack on a maternity ward at a hospital near Zaporizhzhia.

He also said two people were killed by shelling in Kupiansk in Kharkiv.