In Ukraine, data centers ‘facing increased attacks’ in recent weeks: Ex-official

An office building housing a data center in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district is damaged following a strike by a Russian Geran-5 jet-powered attack drone during an aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital on September 23, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

LVIV, Ukraine — Faced with a recent surge in Russian attacks on its data centers, Ukraine must urgently build more underground networks and boost its anti-ballistic and counter-drone capabilities to avoid the loss of critical infrastructure, the country’s former deputy minister of defense has warned.

In the last month, Moscow has continued to strike Ukrainian data centers and communications infrastructure, which were not prime targets earlier in the war. On Sept. 27, the headquarters of the war-torn country’s central mobile service provider, Kyivstar, was hit by a Russian drone strike . The same day, the Russian Defense Ministry also claimed responsibility for targeting the data center of Vodafone Ukraine, the country’s second-biggest cell provider network, according to Reuters.

“Data centers have been facing increased attacks these last few weeks, including strikes by Shahed drones. Russia also increased its cyberattacks even before the war started and has been adapting them to be even more sophisticated since,” Kateryna Chernohorenko, who was deputy minister of defense for digital t ransformation of Ukraine from 2023 to 2025, told Breaking Defense in an interview Sept. 26 at the IT Arena conference in Lviv.

The issue has risen to the highest levels in Kyiv. In a statement published on his Telegram channel Sept. 25, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country plans to strengthen the protection of data centers.

“Additional decisions have been made to protect our data center infrastructure and ensure its uninterrupted operation, as well as other facilities that are critically important in the communications sector,” he said.

To protect these vital hubs, Chernohorenko explained that Ukraine had taken several preventive steps years ago, including moving data centers abroad and investing heavily in underground network s to reduce the likelihood of them being struck from above.

However, she argued that much more needs to be done given the current level of threat these facilities face. She said defending them effectively requires significant resources.

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She pointed to the Russians having done similar work by moving several facilities below ground, including drone production facilities, which remains a big challenge for Ukraine, as that makes them much harder to target and requires constant monitoring.

“Naturally, you cannot move everything underground. … So an important aspect is boosting Ukrainian anti-ballistic and anti-drone capabilities, which are already in critically short supply,” Chernohorenko said.

On counter-drone capabilities, she said Ukrainian F-16 fighter jets are among the most effective tools against Russian jet-powered drones. A Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday highlighted major sustainment issues and delays affecting the jets, with Ukraine relying heavily on Western support and nearly its entire F-16 fleet reportedly out of commission.

“Ukraine’s F-16 fighter jets are critically behind on their maintenance schedule as they were moved from the US to Belgium, where maintenance takes up to 40 weeks instead of the usual two to six, ” Chernohorenko added.

She warned that unless Kyiv obtains “thousands of F-16 rounds” and the sustainment cycle is sped up, the country could ultimately face a shortage of operational fighter jets by the end of the year.

2026年9月23日，乌克兰首都基辅遭到俄罗斯“格朗-5”喷气式攻击无人机空袭，位于索洛米扬斯基区的一栋数据中心办公楼受损。（图片来源：Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images）

乌克兰利沃夫——乌克兰前国防部副部长警告说，面对俄罗斯近期对其数据中心的攻击激增，乌克兰必须紧急建设更多地下网络，并提高其反弹道导弹和反无人机能力，以避免关键基础设施遭受损失。

过去一个月，莫斯科持续袭击乌克兰的数据中心和通信基础设施，而这些设施在战争初期并非主要目标。9月27日，饱受战火蹂躏的乌克兰主要移动通信服务提供商Kyivstar的总部遭到俄罗斯无人机袭击。据路透社报道，同一天，俄罗斯国防部还声称对袭击乌克兰第二大移动通信运营商沃达丰乌克兰的数据中心负责。

“过去几周，数据中心面临的攻击日益增多，包括‘沙赫德’无人机的袭击。俄罗斯甚至在战争开始前就增加了网络攻击，并且此后一直在调整攻击方式，使其更加复杂，”2023年至2025年担任乌克兰国防部负责数字转型事务的副部长卡捷琳娜·切尔诺霍连科在9月26日于利沃夫举行的IT Arena会议上接受Breaking Defense采访时表示。

这个问题已经上升到基辅最高层。乌克兰总统泽连斯基9月25日在其Telegram频道发表声明称，乌克兰计划加强对数据中心的保护。

“我们还做出了一些额外的决定，以保护我们的数据中心基础设施并确保其不间断运行，以及保护通信领域其他至关重要的设施，”他说。

切尔诺霍连科解释说，为了保护这些重要的枢纽，乌克兰多年前就采取了几项预防措施，包括将数据中心转移到国外，并大力投资地下网络，以降低它们被空中袭击的可能性。

然而，她认为鉴于这些设施目前面临的威胁程度，还有很多工作要做。她说，有效保卫这些设施需要大量资源。

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她指出，俄罗斯人也做了类似的事情，将包括无人机生产设施在内的多个设施转移到了地下，这对乌克兰来说仍然是一个巨大的挑战，因为这使得这些设施更难被锁定，需要持续的监控。

“当然，你不可能把所有东西都转移到地下……所以，一个重要的方面是提升乌克兰的反弹道导弹和反无人机能力，而这些能力目前已经严重不足，”切尔诺霍连科说。

关于反无人机能力，她表示，乌克兰的F-16战斗机是对抗俄罗斯喷气式无人机的最有效工具之一。《华尔街日报》周二发表的一篇报道指出，这些战机面临着严重的维护问题和延误，乌克兰严重依赖西方的支持，据报道，其几乎全部F-16机队都已无法使用。

切尔诺霍连科补充说：“乌克兰的F-16战斗机严重落后于维护计划，因为它们从美国转移到了比利时，在那里维护需要长达40周的时间，而不是通常的2到6周。”

她警告说，除非基辅获得“数千发 F-16 子弹”并加快维护周期，否则到今年年底，该国最终可能会面临作战战斗机短缺的问题。