Russia strikes at heart of Ukraine’s digital economy with attacks on ISPs and datacentres

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 on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry.

On Friday, 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 on X.

On Thursday, 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.

Keeping the country connected has been a priority for the Ukrainian government throughout the war, with authorities looking for ways to ensure mobile and internet providers have enough backup power to keep operating during prolonged electricity outages.

Ukraine’s relatively decentralised internet network also makes it harder for individual strikes to cause widespread or prolonged outages across whole cities or regions.

But 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.

“I recommend Kyiv residents gradually prepare for winter … by getting Starlink terminals or other means of maintaining communications,” Serhii Sternenko, a popular blogger and former government adviser, wrote on X.

“The goal of the Russians is not only to strike at the capital’s energy infrastructure but also to destroy all datacentres and internet operators,” Sternenko added.

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.

Among the targets on Friday was a warehouse used by the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain outside Kyiv.

Heavy industry has also been hit hard, with Russian strikes disrupting industrial facilities and steel production. This month, Ukraine failed to produce a single tonne of steel for the first time in a century, according to a senior industry official.

Ukraine is struggling to counter a growing wave of new high-speed Russian jet-powered drones, including the Geran-5, while also running critically low on Patriot missiles needed to defend against Russian ballistic and cruise missile attacks.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Donald Trump had approved granting Ukraine licences to produce Patriot air defence missiles, potentially giving Kyiv a path to manufacture the crucial systems domestically, though experts say it could take years to establish production.

Trump has previously flip-flopped over whether to allow Ukraine to produce Patriots, with the US also facing pressure on its own stocks because of the war in the Middle East.