On the night of October 19, 2026, a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv completely destroyed the data center belonging to the telecommunications company Datagroup. The company announced this in an official statement cited by RBC-Ukraine. According to Datagroup, the facility's equipment and infrastructure have been rendered inoperable, and restoring it or resuming operations at the previous location is impossible.
Consequences for Customers and Switch to Redundant Systems
The company emphasized that customer services continue to be provided from backup sites. Datagroup is a Ukrainian telecommunications service provider that delivers electronic communications to subscribers in more than 90 localities across the country. The destruction of one of its key facilities delivered a serious blow to the operator's infrastructure, but, according to the company, switching to backup capacities helped avoid a complete cessation of services. Additional details regarding the scale of the attack's impact on individual services were not disclosed by the company.
Context: A Series of Strikes on Telecom Infrastructure
The attack on the Datagroup facility is part of a continuing series of strikes against Kyiv's telecom infrastructure. As media outlets recall, on October 1 October, Russian shelling destroyed the Parkovy data center, which sustained critical damage and completely ceased operations. On October 6, the Kyiv-based Omega Telecom data center reported shutting down following a massive attack. According to Hromadske, starting September 23, Russian forces began systematically targeting data center equipment in Ukraine; Datagroup itself reported damage to its data center on September 24, with attacks on similar facilities continuing on September 25 and 26.
Details of the Night Attack and Casualties
According to Hromadske, overnight Ukraine was subjected to an attack by Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, Iskander-K cruise missiles, and 269 strike UAVs; Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 243 drones and four cruise missiles. In Kyiv, the strikes killed a 21-year-old woman and injured five others. According to sources of Radio Liberty journalist Alex Raufoglu, the ballistic strike on Kyiv was once again carried out "without warning." Previously, following the strikes starting September 23, about 100,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region experienced internet disruptions.
Position of the Russian Side
The Russian publication Argumenty i Fakty, citing statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense, characterizes the targeted facility differently: according to the ministry, strikes on data centers are aimed at affecting Ukraine's military communications, and Moscow claims that the Kyiv Datagroup data center processed and transmitted intelligence data in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, the parties disagree on the nature and purpose of the targeted facility, although the fact of the strike and the destruction of the infrastructure are acknowledged by both sides.
