Russian strikes disrupt internet service across Kyiv region

Russian strikes damaged data centres and communications infrastructure in Kyiv, disrupting internet service for about 100,000 households in the capital and surrounding region, according to Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Ministry.

The outages followed a drone attack on Sept. 23 and continued into Sept. 24 as technicians assessed damage and worked to restore stable connections. Several internet and hosting companies reported direct hits or damage to facilities holding essential network equipment.

UTELS said a Kyiv data centre housing its core equipment was left without power, while provider Pavutyna reported outages after one of its data centres was hit. Crazy Network said damage to a central internet traffic exchange disrupted internet and telephone services in Kyiv as well as parts of Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi regions.

Etherlink said its main network node was damaged, forcing the company to move the core of its network. Hosting provider MiroHost said a Ukrainian data centre containing its infrastructure was destroyed, though founder Oleksandr Olshansky said 90% to 95% of its customers used infrastructure outside Ukraine and were unaffected. CityHost also reported that equipment stored at a Kyiv data centre had been destroyed, interrupting some services.

Anatolii Frolenkov of the 1-IX internet exchange told the Kyiv Independent that attacks on energy and telecommunications systems were not new, but that strikes on data centres and communications nodes had intensified since September.