Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says sanctions on Russia are not sufficient to halt its "aggression" and has vowed new Ukrainian action against the "terrorist state".
"We clearly see which directions of pressure on Russia need to be strengthened to prevent (its) terrorist capabilities from growing," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
"Sanctions are not enough. There will also be more of our own Ukrainian actions against the terrorist state. As long as Russia's aggression continues, Russia must feel its losses."
At least seven villages in the Russian border region of Kursk were left without power after a Ukrainian drone attack on part of the local power grid on Tuesday.
A drone dropped an explosive device on a transformer station in the Russian village of Snagost about 15km from the Ukrainian border, regional governor Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram.
No one was injured in the morning attack, he said.
The Ukrainian secret service SBU confirmed the drone attack in comments to Ukrainska Pravda website and other domestic media.
"The Russians should be aware that they will receive a harsh response if they continue to attack Ukrainian energy facilities," an SBU official was quoted as saying.
Later, the power supply to another village just on the Ukrainian border was partially cut off by mortar fire, Starovoyt said.
Two kamikaze drones were brought down in the border area, he added.
Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television on Tuesday attending a defence leaders' meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.
In video and photographs released by the defence ministry, Sokolov was shown as one of several fleet commanders on video apparently joining an in-person meeting of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other army chiefs, although not speaking.
It was not clear when the video was filmed.
Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that Sokolov had been killed along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.
In response to the Russian video, the Ukraine special forces said on Telegram: "Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had declined to comment on the Ukrainian claim, referring reporters to the ministry.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, interviewed by CNN, neither confirmed nor denied Sokolov's death but said his demise could only be a good thing for all concerned.
"He is in our temporary occupied territories… he should not be there at all," CNN quoted Umerov as saying on its website.
"So, if he’s dead, it’s good news for everybody that we are continuing to de-occupy our territory."
In the video, Shoigu said more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in September and that more than 2700 weapons, including seven US Bradley fighting vehicles, had been destroyed.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield claims.
with DPA
