Russia struck Kyiv data centers and the headquarters of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, on Sunday, Sept. 27, widening a campaign against Ukraine’s communications backbone as daytime drone attacks killed three people in Sumy and Kharkiv and injured nine in the capital, Ukrainian officials said.
Kyivstar told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that its Kyiv head office had been hit but no one was hurt, Reuters reported. Russia’s defense ministry said its forces struck two data centers in Kyiv, as well as a logistics hub in Odesa and two cargo vessels bound for the port.
Kyiv Data Center Hit Twice, Vodafone Site Claimed
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia hit one Kyiv data center twice on Sunday morning, wounding two children and an adult. Moscow’s defense ministry separately claimed a strike on a data center belonging to Vodafone Ukraine, the country’s second-largest cellular network, which it described as serving Ukraine’s military; Vodafone Ukraine did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Russia’s claim that the facilities support military operations could not be independently verified.
Strikes on internet-provider data centers over the past week have cut service to about 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to Ukraine’s digital ministry. bne IntelliNews reported that a data-center hit on Sept. 26 knocked several Ukrainian TV channels off the air and disrupted streaming platforms, and that it was unclear whether any commercial facility struck so far actually hosts military systems.
Deaths in Sumy and Kharkiv as Daytime Strikes Rise
In Sumy, three glide bombs landed near a family support center, killing two people, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said. In Kharkiv, a drone hit a car and killed its driver, prosecutors said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine people were injured in the capital, including a child, and that drones struck a high-rise in an eastern suburb and landed near a kindergarten and a playground.
Zelenskiy said Russia had launched 277 attack drones since Saturday, 155 of them jet-powered models that fly higher and are harder to intercept, and that one target in Kyiv was a building used as a residence by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador. He called the strikes “terrorism,” writing that Russia “has no military objective whatsoever.” Both sides deny targeting civilians.
Why Ukraine’s Communications Network Matters Now
Ukrainian officials argue the attacks aim to cut civilians off from information, including the air-raid alerts that help people reach shelter. “Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential—they save lives,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Wednesday. The shift toward round-the-clock strikes follows the overnight ballistic missile barrage on Kyiv earlier this week, while Ukraine has pressed its own long-range campaign, including the drone strike on Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery. With winter approaching, Kyiv’s ability to keep phone, internet and broadcast networks running may prove as important as protecting the power grid.