On Monday, September 28, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had struck data centers in Kyiv belonging to two Ukrainian companies, Ukrtelecom and Dream Line. Telecom operator Ukrtelecom confirmed to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that one of its facilities had been damaged, without specifying which one.
The incident has not affected service availability for customers. “The situation has not affected the operation of our services,” the company’s press office said. Its specialists are now assessing the extent of the damage and the state of the infrastructure, and working to stabilize it. No Ukrtelecom employees were hurt, the company added.
Moscow justified the choice of targets by claiming that both companies provide communications to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The ministry’s statement called Ukrtelecom one of the largest providers of fixed-line and mobile communications and high-speed internet to the military. Dream Line, according to the Russian ministry, supplies the Ukrainian army with high-speed internet and stores intelligence data.
Other telecom infrastructure has also come under attack in recent days. On the same day, it emerged that Omega Telecom, a backbone network operator, had lost its main hub in Kyiv in a Russian attack. More than 300 internet providers rely on its services.
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A day earlier, on September 27, the Russian Defense Ministry made a similar claim about a strike on a Vodafone Ukraine data center. The operator has neither confirmed nor denied it.
