Russia targets Ukraine's digital nerve centres as war reaches data infrastructure
Russia has expanded its military strikes in Ukraine to target data centers and telecommunications infrastructure, causing internet disruptions for thousands of households. While Russia claims these facilities support military intelligence, Ukraine argues the attacks are intended to cripple essential civilian services.
Why it matters
The targeting of digital infrastructure marks a shift in modern warfare, highlighting the vulnerability of civilian data systems in conflict zones.
Russia is expanding its strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure to include data centres and telecommunications facilities, disrupting internet services for around 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region.According to the BBC, citing Ukrainian officials, Russian strikes damaged data centres operated by internet providers in Kyiv. On Friday, a Russian drone hit the Inkom business centre in the capital, which housed a Datagroup data centre, killing four people and damaging the facility. Datagroup said its services continued to operate from backup sites.Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had widened its attacks to target Ukraine's data centres and internet providers, seeking to cause maximum disruption to ordinary people."All this affects people's ability to stay connected, study, work," Zelenskyy said, arguing that the attacks were increasingly affecting essential aspects of daily life.Russia, however, said it had targeted the data centre because it was being used by Ukrainian military intelligence.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in