Electricity supplies from Ukraine to Crimea have been entirely shut off after the region's two remaining power pylons were blown up.

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has now declared a state of emergency in Crimea until power is fully returned.

The ministry did not say what had caused the outages, but Russian media reported that two pylons in the Kherson region of Ukraine north of Crimea had been blown up by Ukrainian nationalists.

This is believed to be the second such attack in a matter of days, affecting the two million people who live there.

Early on Friday morning, two of the four pylons connecting Crimea were brought down in similar circumstances - and Saturday night's attack means all power lines are now out of use.

Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in April 2014, is dependent on Ukraine for electricity.

Power has been partially restored in three cities by emergency local generators, the BRC news agency has reported.

The attack, if by Ukrainian nationalists opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, is likely to further increase tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

S/SH