Security1 publisher3 min readPublished
Russian drone strikes on Kyiv data centers degraded internet for about 100,000 households
Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation counted about 100,000 households with internet problems after Wednesday's drone attack on Kyiv data centers. Four providers lost traffic when buildings holding their core network equipment were damaged, and one of them was back within about two hours.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- NetBlocks recorded partial connectivity losses at four providers serving Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine after Wednesday's drone attack: Kyiv Link, Pautina, Utels and Crazy Network.
- Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation said around 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region had internet problems, with repair crews assessing damage and restoring connections.
- Poland's digital affairs minister said authorities are investigating a fire at an Exatel-run Starlink ground station as possible sabotage, with indications the blaze was set deliberately.
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Why it matters
- constraint Where an operator's core equipment sits in one powered building, restoration waits on power and hardware at that address; Kyivstar kept services running through damage to two of its own sites this month.
- cost Half the providers named this week have been damaged in earlier attacks. For small ISPs, facility hardening is a recurring capital line.
- precedent Treating the Exatel ground station fire as possible sabotage places infrastructure outside Ukraine in the same risk category, and Polish operators now have to plan for it before any attribution lands.
The widest outage belonged to Crazy Network. The company said customers in Kyiv, Vinnytsia and the Khmelnytskyi region lost service after what it described as a strike on a central internet traffic exchange facility [6].
Several providers said the disruption came from direct damage to facilities housing critical networking equipment [20]. Utels said a Kyiv data center holding its core network equipment was damaged and lost power, and that it restored service to most customers within about two hours [4]; it did not say whether power came back from the grid or from a generator. Pautina reported more: several infrastructure sites hit, critical equipment and communication lines damaged, and nearly half its network temporarily out of service [5].
The four providers NetBlocks named lost customer traffic when the buildings holding their equipment were hit [2][20]. Strikes earlier this month damaged Kyivstar facilities including an engineering office and a building housing network equipment, and Ukraine's largest operator said at the time that its services continued operating [15].
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces struck the New-Telco and United DC data centers in Kyiv, and alleged that both supported Ukraine's Defense Ministry and its intelligence and security agencies [7]. Those claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed that either facility was hit [8]. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had targeted major data centers to disrupt the flow of information, and that connectivity is what carries timely warnings of incoming missiles and drones [9]. "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," he said [10].
Two of the four providers named this week, Utels and Pautina, have reported damage in earlier Russian attacks [19]. Russia has hit Ukrainian telecommunications facilities repeatedly during the war [21]. A strike in July damaged one of Kyiv's key data centers and disrupted several internet providers [14].
Late Wednesday, a fire damaged electrical infrastructure, including a switchboard and a generator, at a Starlink ground station in central Poland operated by the state-owned company Exatel, a site that helps provide satellite internet across Europe, including Ukraine [16]. Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland's digital affairs minister, said on Thursday that the fire was being investigated as possible sabotage, that there were indications it had been set deliberately, and that the incident could be an element of hybrid warfare [17]. Polish authorities have not publicly identified anyone responsible, and investigators have not established a Russian role [18].
Wednesday's strikes on Kyiv killed two people and injured at least 43, and damaged residential buildings, railway infrastructure and a historic market [11]. A large-scale missile strike the next day damaged residential buildings, a maternity hospital, and energy and logistics infrastructure [12].
What to watch
- Whether Ukrainian authorities confirm that New-Telco or United DC was hit. A confirmation would test Russia's claim that the sites served military and intelligence users.
- Whether Polish investigators establish a cause or name a suspect for the switchboard and generator fire at the Exatel-operated Starlink ground station.
- Whether the Ministry of Digital Transformation reports restoration figures against the 100,000 household count, and how long Pautina's half-network outage lasted.