Ukraine war latest: Russia takes aim at Ukraine's internet infrastructure

Key developments on Sept. 24:

• Russia puts Ukraine's internet in its sights as attacks on Kyiv infrastructure intensify
• Polish Deputy PM says Starlink station fire possibly Russian sabotage
• Denmark warns Russia could escalate hybrid attacks against NATO in coming months
• Ukrainian drones attack Russia's Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, allegedly targeting oil depots

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.

Polish Deputy PM says Starlink station fire possibly Russian sabotage

A fire at a Starlink ground station in Poland may have been a deliberate attempt to disrupt internet access used by Ukrainian forces at the front, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told reporters on Sept. 24.

Gawkowski said there were indications that the fire at the station in Wola Krobowska, in Poland's Masovian Voivodeship, on the evening of Sept. 23, may have been an attempt to disrupt its operations.

The station is operated by the state-owned telecommunications company Exatel and serves as an internet hub that carries traffic through Poland, including to Ukraine, Gawkowski said.

He suggested Russia could be behind the incident, describing it as potentially part of Moscow's hybrid warfare. Polish authorities have not concluded their investigation into the incident.

He said a disruption could affect internet access for the Ukrainian military, potentially depriving Ukrainian forces of communications at the front.

On top of allowing flawless high-speed communications between combat positions and command posts, Starlink internet, when mounted on drones, allows for an almost unjammable connection not constrained by the limits of traditional radio antennas.

Over 2026, Ukrainian forces have found increasing success using Starlink-enabled drones over Russian-occupied territory, most notably in the "middle-strike" range (50-200 kilometers from the front line), where Russian logistics routes have been devastated by Ukrainian attacks.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk separately said on Sept. 24 that the circumstances of the fire "do not look good," while cautioning that it was too early to determine whether the incident was sabotage or an accident, Polish news agency PAP reported.

Denmark warns Russia could escalate hybrid attacks against NATO in coming months

Russia is likely to intensify its hybrid campaign against NATO and Western countries in the coming months, carrying out more frequent attacks with potentially greater consequences, Denmark's military intelligence service warned on Sept. 24.

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) said Russia had become increasingly willing to take risks as the security situation in Europe deteriorates.

"Russia will intensify its hybrid war by carrying out more frequent attacks against the West and NATO, with greater consequences for the targeted countries than in the past," the agency said in its latest threat assessment.

The attacks could include destructive cyber operations targeting critical infrastructure as well as sabotage carrying a significant risk of casualties, according to the assessment.

DDIS also warned of a "low but growing risk" that Russia could carry out a limited military attack against one or more NATO countries bordering Russia, even while the war in Ukraine continues.

"A limited military attack would be a desperate move on Russia's part" and could take place "in the coming months," the agency said.

Such an attack could involve isolated drone or missile strikes against infrastructure supporting Ukraine, with Russia potentially claiming that the weapons crossed into NATO territory because of Ukrainian electronic warfare, according to the assessment.

DDIS also said Russia could stage a false-flag attack using Ukrainian-made drones or deploy a limited number of troops, potentially without national insignia, into a NATO country bordering Russia.

At the same time, DDIS assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains unlikely to compromise on Moscow's core war aims and may see the next several years as a "window of opportunity" before European military capabilities grow significantly stronger.

Despite the increased risk of escalation, DDIS said it saw no indication that Russia was preparing a full-scale invasion of a NATO country. Such an invasion remains "highly unlikely," according to the assessment, although the agency said it could not be ruled out entirely.

The intelligence service estimated that Russia would need at least six months to prepare the forces required for an invasion.

Ukrainian drones attack Russia's Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, allegedly targeting oil depots

Ukrainian drones allegedly targeted oil depots in Russia's Rostov Oblast and Krasnodar Krai overnight on Sept. 24, according to local authorities.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, including Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, and occupied Crimea, overnight on Sept. 24.

Rostov Oblast Governor Yury Slyusar claimed Russian air defenses intercepted Ukrainian drones over Taganrog and the Kagalnitsky and Neklinovsky districts.

According to Slyusar, falling drone debris damaged administrative buildings at an oil depot in Kagalnitsky district, but there were no casualties or fire.

Additionally, Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ said on Sept. 24 that an oil depot in the settlement of Novotitarovskaya in neighboring Krasnodar Krai also caught fire following a drone attack.

Russian state-controlled media TASS claimed that a fire broke out on the premises of "a facility" after debris from a drone fell in the Dinsky district of Krasnodar Krai. No injuries were reported.

Ukraine has not commented on the strikes, and the Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.