Russia intensifies strikes on Ukraine’s digital infrastructure — ISW
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Damaged office building in Kyiv following a Russian drone strike, September 25, 2026 (Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
Russian forces have intensified strikes on Ukrainian data centers and telecommunications infrastructure since mid-September as the Kremlin searches for “alternative defeat mechanisms” amid battlefield setbacks, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its Sept. 25 assessment.
The campaign is aimed at damaging Ukraine’s economy and disrupting the digital infrastructure that civilians and businesses rely on every day, ISW said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has openly acknowledged targeting data centers, claiming its goal is to disrupt communications used by Ukraine’s Defense Forces. Ukrainian authorities, however, have seen no evidence that the strikes have damaged military communications or the networks of government institutions, according to Oleksandr Fedienko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s cybersecurity and government communications subcommittee.
Russian strikes have caused temporary internet outages, including widespread disruptions in Kyiv, but representatives of Ukrainian internet providers say Russia is unlikely to be able to shut down the country’s internet entirely.
Ukraine has a highly distributed network with thousands of internet service providers, limiting the effects of attacks on individual facilities. The strikes could nevertheless push up costs for consumers as providers are forced to repair or replace damaged infrastructure, ISW said.
ISW described the growing focus on data centers as another attempt by Moscow to undermine the Ukrainian economy, following intensified Russian strikes against port, railway and logistics infrastructure.
The Kremlin is likely broadening its target set in search of “alternative defeat mechanisms” because Russian offensive operations in 2026 have failed to achieve their objectives while Ukrainian forces have made what ISW assesses as operationally and, in some areas, strategically significant gains, the analysts said.
Russian strikes hit Kyiv data centers for three consecutive days
Russian attacks damaged multiple data centers and internet providers in Kyiv between Sept. 23 and 25.
On Sept. 23, a Russian attack damaged data centers hosting equipment used by UTELS and Pavutyna. The Digital Transformation Ministry said around 100,000 households in Kyiv experienced internet disruptions following the strikes.
Crazy Network also reported that a strike damaged a major internet traffic exchange facility in Kyiv, temporarily disrupting service for customers in Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
Further strikes overnight into Sept. 24 damaged equipment used by hosting provider CityHost.UA and destroyed a data center housing MiroHost infrastructure. KIEVNET, Domonet, FAUST and other providers also reported disruptions linked to damaged network infrastructure.
On Sept. 25, Russian attacks damaged data centers operated by Cosmonova and Datagroup.
Datagroup said its employees were unharmed and customer data remained intact, with services continuing from backup sites. Cosmonova similarly said no employees were injured and customer data had been preserved through geographically distributed backups, although temporary service disruptions remained possible.
Ukraine moves to strengthen protection of communications infrastructure
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a Sept. 25 meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that additional measures had been approved to protect data centers and other facilities critical to Ukraine’s communications infrastructure and ensure their uninterrupted operation.
“These decisions must be fully implemented at every level,” Zelenskyy said, adding that government officials and security service chiefs would be personally responsible for their implementation.
Ukrainian experts have stressed that individual strikes can knock providers offline or disrupt services locally, but Ukraine’s decentralized internet infrastructure makes a nationwide shutdown extremely difficult.
Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, a presidential adviser on defense technologies, said Ukraine has one of the world’s most distributed internet networks and that Russian attacks are unlikely to leave the entire country without connectivity.
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