Russia strikes Kyivstar headquarters and data centers in attack on Ukraine’s communications infrastructure

Russia struck the headquarters of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, on Sunday, continuing its bombardment of Ukrainian data centers and communications infrastructure, as Reuters reports.

Kyivstar told the Interfax Ukraine agency that its central office in Kyiv was hit, but there were no casualties among its employees.

Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that it had struck a data center belonging to Vodafone Ukraine, the country’s second-largest mobile network; Vodafone Ukraine did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters writes that it could not independently verify the Russian ministry’s claims.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia struck a data center in Kyiv twice on Sunday morning, injuring two children and one adult.

Over the past week, Moscow also hit data centers of Ukrainian internet operators, causing service outages for around 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to Ukraine’s digital ministry. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that “Russia has targeted Ukraine’s main data centers, seeking to disrupt the flow of information,” stressing that rapid alerts about missile and drone threats save lives.

In its statement, the Russian ministry claims overnight drone strikes on logistics hubs, port and transport infrastructure, communications centers and vessels it says are linked to the Ukrainian military: a data center in Kyiv, logistics hubs in the Kyiv and Odesa regions, two drone depots in Mykolaiv, the headquarters of a naval base and of the State Border Guard Service in the port of Kiliya, and military warehouses; a cargo ship that Moscow says was transporting military and dual-use goods to Odesa was also hit. The ministry later said on Sunday that it carried out another series of daytime strikes on two more data centers in Kyiv, a logistics hub in Odesa and another cargo ship bound for Odesa. Reuters writes it could not independently verify these claims.