What just happened? It appears that Russia has followed in Iran’s footsteps and decided to target data centers in its hostilities. A Russian drone hit a business center in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Friday, killing four people and damaging a data center that Russia later confirmed as a target.
The September 25 attack shocked the Solomianskyi district of Kiev. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven people were injured, including a child, while three of those killed were found in a parking lot in front of the building. The explosion damaged the facade and shattered windows.
The facility belonged to the Ukrainian telecommunications company Datagroup. It said none of its employees were injured and customer data remained secure. Services continued to operate from backup locations, with specialists assessing the damage and working to restore infrastructure.
“All of this is affecting people’s ability to stay connected, study and work,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post. He also wrote: “The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other companies, data centers, Internet providers – for Russia, all normal life is simply a target. It is important that the world responds to all this and that Russia feels the reaction to its terror.”
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attack and claimed that the data center processed and transmitted information for the armed forces of Ukraine. Moscow also claimed attacks earlier this week on facilities operated by New Telco, United DC, Kyivstar and Parkovyi.
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, around 100,000 households in Kiev and the surrounding region experienced internet problems after Wednesday’s attack, which damaged the infrastructure of providers Pavutyna and UTELS.
According to the BBC, some companies are already moving data from damaged servers to facilities outside Ukraine, helping companies keep their digital infrastructure out of the reach of Russian attacks.
Losing connectivity in a war zone is obviously more serious than not being able to stream Netflix. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attacks disrupted access to mobile airstrike warnings. Banks, online payments, businesses and government services also rely on the infrastructure that is now under attack.
However, there is some reassurance. In its Sept. 25 assessment, the Institute for the Study of War quoted Ukrainian officials as saying they had no evidence of damage to military or government communications. Providers also said Ukraine’s extensive, distributed networks make a complete internet shutdown unlikely, although repairs could drive up customers’ bills.
Data centers are becoming a frequent target of conflict. Earlier this month, it was reported that AWS was unable to restore resources and data hosted exclusively in the Bahrain region due to Iran’s attacks on Amazon’s infrastructure in the Middle East. Resources in a UAE availability zone were also destroyed. Datagroup’s backups appear to have prevented a similar data loss disaster in Ukraine.
Back in July, Iran claimed it had used cruise missiles to destroy Amazon’s main data hub in Bahrain. Tehran had also threatened the OpenAI and Nvidia-backed Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi.
Photo credit: DSNS Kyiv
