Zelensky says Russia has widened strikes to Ukraine's data centres and internet providers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 25 September that Russia has widened its attacks to target data centres and internet providers, seeking to cause maximum disruption for ordinary people. "All this affects people's ability to stay connected, study, work," he said.

What happened

A Russian drone hit a business centre in Kyiv on Friday, killing four people and damaging a data centre. Footage verified by the BBC showed the damaged Inkom business centre, which housed a data centre run by Datagroup.

In a post on social media, Zelensky wrote: "The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centres, internet providers - for Russia, all ordinary life is simply a target." It is important that the world responds, he added.

About 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region suffered internet outages on Wednesday because of the strikes. In the north-western city of Lutsk, electronic information boards at public transport stops were not working on Friday. The city council blamed "damage caused by a Russian attack on data centres in Kyiv".

Resilience of the network

Datagroup, which runs the damaged facility, said its specialists were assessing the damage but that all services "continue to operate from backup sites". Some firms are already moving data off damaged servers abroad.

Serhii Beskrestnov, Zelensky's top adviser on defence technologies, admitted on Thursday that "there may be local disruptions" and that the cost of internet services could rise to cover repairs. He stressed, however, that Ukraine's network is highly decentralised, so the country "will not be left without internet access".

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday that Russia was trying to disrupt the flow of "life-saving information" by hitting data centres. "Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential - they save lives. This is critical civilian infrastructure... It is not a military target," he said.

The wider picture

Russia's defence ministry confirmed it had hit the Datagroup site and said it was used by Ukrainian military intelligence. It added that over the past few days its forces had targeted several data processing and telecommunications centres in Ukraine, including New-Telco, United DC, Kyivstar and Parkovyi.

Separately on Friday, Poland's prosecutors opened an investigation into an arson attack on a Starlink satellite station in Wola Krobowska on Wednesday, saying there was a reasonable suspicion that the perpetrators acted on the orders of Russian special services. Moscow has not commented. The station carries internet traffic through Poland to countries including Ukraine.