Russia deliberately strikes Kyiv data centers, knocking out internet and TV channels

Since September 23, Russian forces have been methodically knocking out the capital’s digital infrastructure, and in just 4 days the campaign has spread from home internet connections to live television, writes RBC-Ukraine.

On the very first day, strikes on several data centers left about 100 thousand households in Kyiv and the surrounding region without a stable connection. The providers UTELS and “Pavutyna” were hit, the systems of the “Knyharnia Ye” bookstore chain and the Fex.NET file-sharing service went down, and a data center housing MiroHost’s capacity was destroyed. The following night CityHost, KIEVNET, Etherlink, Crazy Network and others joined the list. On September 25, a Datagroup data center came under fire. The Russians struck Cosmonova, located in the “Protasov” business center, in the evening and then again on the morning of September 26, until the company announced that its data center would no longer operate.

It was right after this that “Novyny Live”, the telethon channel “My-Ukraina” and “Armiia TV” went off the air. Video players on the Suspilne public broadcaster’s website stopped working, and MEGOGO lost the signal of STB and 1+1, because the data center of the partner that supplied the service with its TV signal suffered serious destruction.

Why would Moscow go after server rooms in office buildings? The first version is informational. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes disrupted Ukrainians’ access to mobile alerts about Russian attacks. In other words, a person who does not get a warning in time does not have time to take shelter. And with the telethon and the army channel switched off, that person also knows less about what is happening.

The second version is economic. The Financial Times points out that banks, payments, trade and government services in Ukraine rely on an interconnected network of data centers. Damage to a single such facility hits a large number of users at once, which is why the paper suggests the Kremlin is trying to undermine the country’s digital economy. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War reached a similar conclusion. It is the same logic by which Russia has struck the power grid for years, only now the target is servers.

The third version is about the market. Every time a provider moves its network core to a new site and a hosting company spins up backup copies, someone pays for it. The FT warns outright that the attacks may drive up the cost of services. Tellingly, CityHost saved its services by bringing up backups on equipment abroad. If keeping data in Kyiv becomes dangerous, businesses move it out of the country, and part of the digital economy goes with it.

Can Russia leave Ukraine without internet altogether? Serhii Beskrestnov, adviser to the president on defense technology, believes it cannot, because the country’s networks are distributed. Connectivity is indeed returning through bypass routes. Yet Cosmonova has already shut the doors of its data center, and according to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Stavka, Ukraine’s supreme military command, has decided on additional protection for data centers and communication facilities.