Kyiv internet outages follow Russian strikes on data centers

Russian drone attacks on Kyiv this week hit data centers and telecom facilities, cutting or degrading internet access for thousands of people in the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported partial connectivity losses at no fewer than four providers after Wednesday's strike. The affected networks were Kyiv Link, Pautina, Utels and Crazy Network, which serve Kyiv as well as other parts of Ukraine.

According to Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, roughly 100,000 households in Kyiv and the wider region had internet problems after the attack. Repair crews were sent out to assess the damage and bring stable connections back online.

Damage inside the facilities

Several of the affected providers said the outages came from physical damage to sites that host critical networking equipment, rather than from problems further down the line.

Utels said a Kyiv data center holding its core network equipment was damaged and lost power during the attack. The company restored service to most of its customers within roughly two hours.

Pautina described a heavier impact. Several of its infrastructure sites were hit, and close to half of its network went offline for a time. The provider said both critical equipment and communication lines were damaged.

Crazy Network reported outages for customers in Kyiv, Vinnytsia and the Khmelnytskyi region. It linked the disruption to a strike on a central internet traffic exchange facility, the kind of hub where networks connect and hand traffic to one another.

Competing claims

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces targeted the New-Telco and United DC data centers in Kyiv. It claimed the two sites supported Ukraine's Defense Ministry along with its intelligence and security agencies.

These claims have not been independently verified. Ukrainian authorities have also not confirmed that either facility was hit.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of going after major data centers to disrupt the flow of information. He pointed out that internet access is essential for getting timely warnings about incoming Russian missiles and drones to the public.

"This is critical civilian infrastructure that ensures people can access life-saving information. It is not a military target. It is essential to keeping everyday life functioning," Sybiha said.

Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday's strikes on Kyiv killed two people and injured at least 43. Residential buildings, railway infrastructure and a historic market were also damaged.

A day later, on Thursday, Russia launched a large-scale missile attack. Ukrainian officials said it damaged residential buildings, a maternity hospital, and energy and logistics infrastructure.

A recurring target

Telecommunications facilities have been hit repeatedly during Russia's war against Ukraine, and this week's providers are not new to it.

Both Utels and Pautina have reported damage from earlier Russian attacks. In July, a major strike damaged one of Kyiv's key data centers and knocked several internet providers offline.

Earlier this month, Russian strikes also damaged facilities belonging to Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest telecom operator. An engineering office and a building housing network equipment were affected. Kyivstar said at the time that its services kept running.

Fire at a Starlink ground station in Poland

The pressure on connectivity was not limited to Ukrainian territory this week.

Late on Wednesday, a fire broke out at a Starlink ground station in central Poland. The site is run by Exatel, a state-owned Polish telecom company, and helps deliver satellite internet across Europe, including to Ukraine. The fire damaged electrical infrastructure, including a switchboard and a generator.

On Thursday, Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the incident was being investigated as possible sabotage and that there were signs the fire had been set deliberately.

Gawkowski called it a possible element of hybrid warfare, a term for hostile state activity that mixes military, covert and non-military methods. He stressed that the facility matters for keeping Ukraine connected to the internet.

Polish authorities have not named anyone as responsible. Investigators have not established a Russian role.

The Bigger Picture

For readers who work in security, this week's events are a reminder that network resilience is not only about code and configuration. The outages in Kyiv were caused by damage to buildings, power supplies and communication lines, and the providers that recovered fastest, such as Utels, appear to be those that could get power and core equipment back quickly.

The incidents also show how concentrated risk can be. A single hit on a traffic exchange facility affected Crazy Network customers across three regions, and one data center strike in July disrupted several providers at once. That points to the value of geographic redundancy and diverse upstream links for any organisation that depends on a small number of hubs.

The Polish fire is the part worth watching most closely. If investigators confirm sabotage, it would suggest that infrastructure supporting Ukraine is at risk well beyond the front line, including on EU soil. It is also worth watching whether further strikes on Kyiv data centers follow, and whether Russia's claims about New-Telco and United DC are ever confirmed or refuted.