View from London: Russia strikes at heart of Ukraine’s digital economy with attacks on ISPs and datacenters

An office building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district that housed a datacentre and communications infrastructure after a Russian drone attack
Photo: Getty Images

As winter approaches, Kyiv fears disruption to vital networks that keep banks, payment systems and public services running, The Guardian reports.

Russia has opened a new front in its campaign against Ukraine, hitting several datacentres and internet providers in Kyiv this week in an apparent attempt to weaken the digital backbone of the economy.

About 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region suffered temporary internet outages after strikes, according to Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry.

Another drone strike in central Kyiv hit the offices of Datagroup, one of Ukraine’s largest telecommunications companies, killing four people.

“Russia has targeted major Ukrainian datacentres, seeking to disrupt the flow of information,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote.

Polish authorities reported a Starlink satellite station in central Poland serving Ukraine had been set on fire, in what appeared to be part of a coordinated attack on Ukraine’s internet infrastructure. Local officials described it as an “act of sabotage” linked to Moscow.

Russia has previously targeted Ukraine’s datacentres, but attacks on this scale are new.

With winter approaching, officials and industry figures fear repeated Russian attacks could begin to disrupt the networks that keep Ukraine’s banks, payment systems and public services running.

The attacks come amid Russia’s intensified strikes on Ukraine’s economy, with missiles and new jet-powered drones used against warehouses, petrol stations, ports and other commercial infrastructure, adding further pressure to an economy already strained by nearly five years of full-scale war.

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