Russian Strikes Damage Two Major Data Centers in Kyiv as War Targets Ukraine's Digital Infrastructure

Russian strikes have damaged two major data center facilities in Kyiv within days of each other, underscoring the growing vulnerability of Ukraine's digital infrastructure as the war increasingly extends into telecommunications and information systems. The attacks targeted a data center operated by mobile services provider BeMobile and De Novo, one of Ukraine's largest commercial data center operators.

The strikes come amid an intensified Russian campaign against infrastructure in and around the Ukrainian capital. On September 15, the BeMobile data center was hit by a Russian drone attack. UCloud, which provides services from the facility, confirmed that its Kyiv data center had been affected. The attack temporarily disrupted websites relying on UCloud services, including that of Ukraine's National Paralympic Committee. UCloud did not disclose the extent of physical damage, but affected services were expected to be restored within several hours, according to DataCentral.

Two days later, on September 17, missile and drone strikes damaged energy and telecommunications infrastructure and injured more than 20 people in the capital. A further strike on September 19 targeted the De Novo data center, a facility operating at Tier III standards that provides cloud and infrastructure services, including hosting for major Ukrainian financial institutions. Russian authorities claimed the facility was involved in processing and transmitting data for the Ukrainian military, while De Novo describes its Kyiv site as a sovereign-cloud and artificial-intelligence provider supporting mission-critical IT systems and major Ukrainian businesses.

Russia's Defense Ministry, in a statement issued via the official Tass news agency, said: "Russian forces carried out group strikes overnight using air-launched precision weapons and strike unmanned aerial vehicles. The strikes hit the Radionix radio electronics plant in Kyiv, which produces control systems for Flamingo, Neptune, FP-7 and FP-9 missiles, as well as the B-Mobile data center, which stores, processes and transmits data, including intelligence data, and supports the operation of network equipment for Ukrainian troops." Russian authorities have repeatedly characterized BeMobile as a military-related target.

The damage to data centers carries consequences far beyond the facilities themselves. Servers, network equipment, power systems and cooling infrastructure underpin banking, government services, telecommunications and thousands of commercial websites, meaning even temporary disruptions can affect organizations well beyond the immediate strike site. Ukraine has increasingly relied on redundant systems and geographically distributed infrastructure to keep essential digital services operating during the war. The damage to BeMobile and the reported strike on De Novo demonstrate the continuing risks facing the country's digital backbone as physical attacks extend to critical computing infrastructure.