Russia's latest target: Ukraine's internet

Russian strikes have hit multiple data centers and internet providers in Kyiv over the past two days, disrupting service for around 100,000 households as Moscow expands its attacks on Ukraine's internet infrastructure.

Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry said around 100,000 households in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast experienced internet problems following the Sept. 23 drone attack, as specialists worked to assess the damage and restore stable service.

"This is the beginning of a phase where, since September, they have started taking it out systematically," Anatolii Frolenkov, a representative of the 1-IX internet exchange point, told the Kyiv Independent.

Frolenkov added that attacks on Ukraine's communications infrastructure are not new, pointing to earlier strikes on energy and telecommunications networks. But the recent escalation of attacks on data centers and communication nodes marks a shift in intensity, he said.

Several providers reported direct damage to their infrastructure. UTELS reported damage to a Kyiv data center housing its core equipment, leaving it without power, while Pavutyna said one of its data centers was hit, causing outages for some customers.

Crazy Network said a strike damaged a central internet traffic exchange in Kyiv, disrupting internet and telephone services in the capital and in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.

The disruption continued into Sept. 24. Kyiv-based provider Etherlink said an attack damaged its main network node, knocking some customers offline and forcing the company to relocate the core of its network.

Other companies reported more extensive losses. Hosting provider MiroHost said the data center in Ukraine that housed its infrastructure was destroyed in the attack, company founder Oleksandr Olshansky told dev.ua. Around 90-95% of MiroHost customers use infrastructure outside Ukraine and were unaffected, he added.

CityHost also said equipment it stored at a Kyiv data center had been destroyed, disrupting some of its services.

Russia's Defense Ministry explicitly claimed responsibility for strikes on two Kyiv data centers on Sept. 23, New-Telco and United DC. Moscow alleged that New-Telco handled internet traffic for Ukraine's Defense Ministry and that United DC provided communications and data-processing services for Ukrainian security agencies.

Those claims about the facilities' military use could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected Moscow's characterization of the facilities.

"Russia has targeted major Ukrainian data centers, seeking to disrupt the flow of information. Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential – they save lives," Sybiha said. "This is critical civilian infrastructure that ensures people can access life-saving information. It is not a military target. It is essential to keep everyday life functioning."

"As Russia is not achieving its goals on the battlefield, it is seeking new ways to destabilize life in Ukraine and terrorize civilians," he added.

The latest strikes follow earlier damage to telecommunications infrastructure in Kyiv. A key data center was damaged in a Russian attack on July 2, causing disruptions for several providers, while infrastructure belonging to mobile operator Kyivstar was damaged in separate attacks in September.

Despite the recent damage, Frolenkov said knocking out internet access across Ukraine would be extremely difficult.

Providers can limit the impact of individual strikes by duplicating network equipment, maintaining backup communications routes, and distributing infrastructure across different locations, including outside Ukraine, he said.

But that strategy is expensive, leaving many providers without sufficient backup infrastructure, more vulnerable when equipment is destroyed.

"The internet will not disappear completely," Frolenkov said. "There will be outages, there will be problems. It won't work as smoothly or as quickly, things may glitch, and operators may go down for a couple of hours because the infrastructure is being physically destroyed."

So far, the strikes have caused significant but scattered outages rather than a nationwide internet blackout.