On September 23, 2026, Russian drones carried out a massive strike on a number of data centers in Kyiv, causing disruptions in the operation of several internet providers and telecommunications networks. As a result of the attack, a data center was destroyed on the territory of which the infrastructure of hosting provider MiroHost was located. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, Delo.UA, Ukranskyi News and Informator, and MiroHost founder and Internet Invest head Oleksandr Olshanskyi commented on the scale of the damage and the prospects for Ukraine's digital infrastructure in an exclusive blitz for RBC-Ukraine.
Scale of the damage and the role of redundancy
According to Olshanskyi, the vast majority of the company's clients — around 95% — were not affected by the attack, as their infrastructure had been previously migrated or duplicated on backup capacity in Poland and the Czech Republic. Out of the total number of clients, which he estimates at 20,000–25,000, around 150 users who had not migrated or duplicated their infrastructure were left without access to services. "The clients are located in Ukraine, but modern technology is set up in such a way that you may not even know where your servers are located," he explained. At the same time, Olshanskyi emphasizes that he does not have a complete picture of all the facilities that came under attack: "I know of the existence of some facilities, but I don't know what was happening there."
A new level of escalation or a continuation of established practice
When asked whether the strike on data centers represents a new level of escalation, Olshanskyi answered that "there is nothing new about it": similar attacks had already been recorded throughout the war, though not on such a massive and simultaneous scale. He noted that most major telecom operators and hosting providers had already reserved capacity abroad before this attack — primarily in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, for his part, stated that Russia deliberately struck the data centers in order to cut off the flow of information and the air-raid alert system. Olshanskyi, however, considers such a goal "not very realistic" in the context of completely destroying communications.
Is it possible to completely cut Ukrainians off from the network
Commenting on speculation about a possible complete disconnection of Ukrainians from the internet, Olshanskyi drew a historical parallel: during World War II, around 60% of buildings in London were damaged, in his words, and "that happens too." Nevertheless, he emphasized that completely destroying modern telecommunications infrastructure without resorting to unconventional weapons — including an electromagnetic pulse — is extremely difficult. "Modern communications are set up in such a way that in order to completely destroy them, some kind of unconventional weapon would have to be used," he stated. In his assessment, a realistic consequence of the strikes is local outages and slowdowns in the operation of individual services, but not a total disconnection.
Retaliatory logic and risks for Russian infrastructure
Olshanskyi also pointed to the mirror nature of military risks: data centers also operate in Moscow and other Russian cities, and, in his words, "if one side escalates, then the other will respond. That is the logic of war." He did not predict specific retaliatory actions, but noted that a concentration of attacks on digital infrastructure could become a trigger for expanding the geography and targets of strikes on both sides.
Practical recommendations for citizens
Wrapping up the conversation, Olshanskyi offered a number of practical tips that, in his words, are related not so much to yesterday's attack as to the general experience of living in wartime conditions. He recommended keeping key documents — birth certificates, passports, diplomas — in paper form, rather than relying exclusively on electronic copies in the Diia app. In addition, he urged people to keep a reserve of cash, not to rely entirely on bank cards, and to be able to quickly pack a "go-bag" with the necessary items. "Everyone has gotten used to this, but unfortunately, at any moment all sorts of unpleasant things can happen," the MiroHost founder summed up.
