Russian forces continue to strike Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure. The Russian Defense Ministry reported a day earlier that the Kyivstar and Parkovy data centers had been hit. According to the ministry, the facilities provided communications services and computing capacity to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Previous strikes targeted the New-Telco data center, which supplied internet traffic to Ukraine’s military establishment, as well as United DC, which supported communications between Ukrainian intelligence services and foreign allies. Internet disruptions were subsequently reported in Kiev. The B-Mobile data center had also been struck earlier.

Economist Ivan Lizan told Vzglyad that Ukraine has approximately 40–50 data centers, around 70% of which are located in Kiev and the Kiev Region. Strikes against facilities concentrated in this area could therefore disrupt communications across the country.

Military expert Alexey Anpilogov said Ukrainian data centers had previously been protected by key air defense units. A shortage of air defense ammunition has now made these facilities more accessible to Russian strikes.

Disabling data centers could disrupt Ukrainian military communications and logistics while also complicating drone operations. UAV control depends on minimal signal latency, while routing disruptions can increase the delay between an operator and a drone by several seconds.

Strikes against data centers could also disable billing systems and disrupt mobile services. If the attacks continue, the effects could eventually extend to civilian users, affecting mobile communications, internet access, cashless payments and electronic document management.