Apple Pencil 1 keeps disconnecting and does not reconnect

Recently, I’ve encountered an issue with my Apple Pencil 1st gen and iPad A16. It keeps disconnecting from the iPad and in order to use it I have to connect it with a cable to the iPad or a charger (using old lightning connector). It started to happen after updating to iPadOS 26. It does not disconnect while used but only when it is not used for a while - then I have to reconnect it manually because it doesn’t turn on on its own, which is annoying considering that the pencil has lightning whereas the iPad has USB-C . I cannot use my pencil without carrying a cable with an adapter. It happens even when the pencil is fully charged.