Russia bombs Ukrainian data centers in latest escalation

The Russian military has started striking data centers within Ukraine in its latest escalation against the country. According to the BBC, a Russian drone hit the data center, which was situated in a central business district in Kyiv, damaging it and killing four people in the area. Multiple reports also suggest that other data centers and network infrastructure have been hit across the country as well, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that Moscow wants to maximize disruption for the common people.

“All this affects people’s ability to stay connected, study, work,” Zelensky said. He also wrote in a social media post, “The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centers, internet providers — for Russia, all ordinary life is simply a target. It is important that the world responds to all of this and that Russia feels the response to its terror.” Russia, on the other hand, confirmed that it attacked the Datagroup site, claiming that Ukrainian military intelligence used it, and that it’s also targeting other data and telecommunications centers owned by New-Telco, United DC, Kyivstar, and Parkovyi.

These attacks have left about 100,000 households in Ukraine without internet connectivity, and some companies have begun migrating their data across the border to avoid disruption. Nevertheless, one government official said that Ukraine’s internet network is highly decentralized, but people should still expect some local disruptions. However, Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Russia’s targeting of data centers would affect the flow of “life-saving information.” “Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential — they save lives. This is crucial civilian infrastructure… It is not a military target,” Sybiha said. “It is essential to keeping everyday life functioning.”

Data centers are considered critical infrastructure as modern society increasingly relies on online services. Because of this, they’re now considered strategic targets in a conflict. While government-owned data processing sites have historically been one of the first targets in military operations, Iran’s response to the U.S.’s bombing campaign in March marked one of the first instances where commercial civilian data center infrastructure was deliberately targeted. This included drone and missile attacks on AWS Middle East regional data centers in Dubai and Bahrain. It also directly threatened the offices of Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and 14 other American tech companies in the region, as well as OpenAI’s Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi.+

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