A year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s overall resilience and spirit of defiance have strengthened. However, telecommunications and Internet connectivity face increasingly difficult challenges. Initially, most Ukrainian internet networks experienced interruptions and delays. But that changed when Russia not only destroyed the physical facility, but also used malware and other cyberattack weapons.
The Top 10VPN research team recently published results that reveal the difficult situation in Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s internet has shrunk by at least 16% nationwide since the outbreak of the war.
- 17% of network-connected devices previously detectable via internet scans are gone.
- The number of accessible IP addresses has been significantly reduced. Kherson, a major city on the Black Sea coast, saw an 81% drop, with a total of 1,500 hours of service suffering the worst outage. In Donetsk and Luhansk, the number of accessible IP addresses also decreased by 59% and 56%, respectively.
Ukraine has experienced a total of 276 internet outages since March 2022, totaling 19,000 hours. There were also at least 45 severe service outages that lasted 3,800 hours. “The intentional destruction of physical infrastructure, intentional internet disruptions and massive population movements have created an unstable and limited access environment across Ukraine,” Top10VPN said.
The majority of digital rights violations take place in Russian-occupied territories, including limited internet access, the introduction of digital censorship devices and the control of telecommunications infrastructure. “This strategy restricts access to vital information in Ukraine, prohibits communication between family and friends, and creates the conditions for Russian propaganda to spread unhindered,” Top10VPN said. .
Other reports do the same. A September report by the ITU found that within six months of the war, telecommunications infrastructure in 10 of Ukraine’s 24 regions had been badly damaged and it would cost $1.79 billion to restore. infrastructure to pre-war levels.
The attack on the wireless infrastructure started early. The quality of data transmission on wired broadband networks also fell by an average of 13% as of May 1, 2022, and around 11% of all mobile operator base stations were out of service. It is clear that this figure has continued to increase since the publication of the report.
This communication failure was created partly as a destruction of equipment and partly as a threat. “For example, to block access to Ukrainian web resources, Russian forces broke into the offices of Status, a Kherson-based ISP, blackmailed them and forced them to connect their equipment to Russian networks,” he said. said the ITU.
According to several reports, there is also a growing problem of access control and surveillance by Russia sending Ukrainian traffic to Russian service providers. “The harsh digital censorship devices applied to the occupied territories have been made possible by supporting the telecommunications infrastructure of these territories,” explained Top10VPN.
In June, more than 700 Ukrainian service providers were under Russian occupation. Ukraine’s head of digital infrastructure and services, Lilia Maron, told Bloomberg: “The goal and objective of the Russian occupation forces is to destroy or simply take over Ukraine’s internet infrastructure. But I believe that sooner or later the region will recover, and then this problem will be gone.
Indeed, Ukraine’s recoverability will become an important component of Ukraine’s telecommunications and internet as governments and service providers restore services in many regions. For example, the ITU reported that in April 2022, 3,000 restorations had been performed in 110 cities, involving 450 technicians. In addition, more than 10 km of fiber optic cables have been restored in the province of Kieu, representing 90% of the fixed broadband network of the local telecommunications operator Kieusta. In August, more than 30 km of optical cables were restored and the number of restorations increased.
Ukrainian mobile operators Lifecell and Vodafone Ukraine also reported an expansion of repair and restoration services in some areas. Since the start of the war, LifeCell has carried out 55,000 door-to-door repairs and 92% of the network is now functioning. In October, 87% of regional offices of Ukraine Telecom were operating normally.
Potency is always an issue. Sequential power outages have become commonplace and batteries are draining. Cellular carriers are looking for lithium-ion backup systems. They last longer and charge faster than lead acid batteries. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Kyusta received 8,000 new batteries, while Vodafone Ukraine installed 5,000 new ones.
A generator is also required to operate the wireless base station. “25% of the country’s base stations are down due to sequential power outages,” said Stanislav Pribitko, head of mobile communications at Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Innovation. In November, a Russian attack wreaked havoc on the power system, knocking 59% of base stations offline.
Internet access itself has increased dramatically with the proliferation of devices connecting to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. Ukraine has 30,000 Starlink terminals, 10,000 of which were supplied by Germany. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Innovation Mikhailo Fedorov tweeted: “Russia tried to completely disconnect Ukraine, but our telecommunications infrastructure is only getting stronger and stronger.”
Fedorov also recently highlighted new services for the government’s Diaa app. Launched in 2020, the app allows Ukrainians to use digital documents stored on their smartphones instead of physical certificates. “It’s been a year since the war broke out, but Ukrainian digital is still on the move,” Fedorov said. Specifically, it has launched 40 new services and products since February 24. Online services are an integral part of Ukraine’s recovery.”
The ITU clearly assessed the extent of the damage to Ukrainian telecommunications networks, but also offered encouraging prospects for the end of the war and the return of peace to Ukraine. “On the positive side, with careful planning and international financial support, it is also possible to build advanced next-generation network and service infrastructure in Ukraine,” the ITU said.
editor@itworld.co.kr
