The Kyiv data center attack of 23 September 2026 cut internet access for about 100,000 households in the city and surrounding region, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said. The provider UTELS restored most of its customers within about two hours. Two hosting companies still cannot name a restoration date.
What Was Hit and What Happened to Each Operator
The damage fell into two categories: network equipment that could be repowered, and hosting equipment that was destroyed. That split explains why recovery times differ by orders of magnitude.
| Operator | What was damaged | Status reported |
|---|---|---|
| UTELS | Kyiv data center holding core network equipment lost power | Most customers restored in about two hours |
| Pavutyna | One of its data centers hit | Some customers offline; no timeline given |
| Crazy Network | Central traffic exchange in Kyiv | Internet and telephone lost in Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts; no timeline |
| KyivLink | Affected by the same data center damage | Partial connectivity loss |
| Etherlink | Main network node damaged | Relocating the core of its network |
| MiroHost | Kyiv data center destroyed | No restoration date |
| CityHost | Equipment in one Kyiv data center destroyed | Deploying backups abroad; no restoration date |
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on 23 September that it had struck two Kyiv data centers, naming them as New-Telco and United DC. It alleged that New-Telco carried Ukrainian Defence Ministry traffic and that United DC provided communications for security agencies. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Why Some Providers Were Back in Two Hours
A data center that loses power is a different problem from a data center that is destroyed. UTELS said the Kyiv facility housing its core equipment lost power in the attack, and it brought most customers back within roughly two hours once it could route around the failure.
Crazy Network’s problem was structural rather than electrical. The strike damaged a central traffic exchange point, the shared junction where several networks hand traffic to one another, so the outage spread beyond the capital into two other oblasts. The company said its engineers were working in life-threatening conditions and gave no repair estimate.
Etherlink took the third path: rather than repair the damaged node, it began moving the core of its network elsewhere.
What Happens to Data Held in a Destroyed Data Center
For hosting companies, the recovery question is not when the power returns but whether the same data exists somewhere else. Oleksandr Olshansky, founder of MiroHost, told the Ukrainian technology site dev.ua that “the data center where MiroHost facilities were located was destroyed, so there is currently no recovery time. Foreign infrastructure is operating normally.”
That second sentence is the reason most MiroHost customers noticed nothing. Olshansky said about 90% to 95% of the company’s clients are served from facilities outside Ukraine, and those were untouched. The customers affected are the minority hosted on the Ukrainian location, and for them the company has not set a date.
CityHost, whose equipment in one Kyiv data center was destroyed, said it was working in emergency mode to bring up backups on hardware held abroad. It has also not said how long that will take.
The practical lesson for anyone hosting anything in a conflict zone is that geographic redundancy is not a formality. The two firms that could point at capacity in another country had a recovery path. Providers whose equipment sat only in the damaged buildings did not.
The Services That Went Down Beyond Home Internet
Consumer broadband was the largest visible effect, but not the only one. According to the internet governance publication CircleID, Ukrainian court systems were unreachable from 13:58 to 16:17 Kyiv time, and the hosting operator ITLDC reported an outage beginning at 11:10 Kyiv time.
The Kyiv Independent reported that a building in the Solomianskyi district housing both a data center and communication backbone nodes was among the sites damaged. Crazy Network’s customers lost telephone service as well as internet, a reminder that voice and data increasingly run over the same equipment.
What Kyiv Said in Response
Ukraine rejected the characterisation of the sites as military. Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said of the targets: “This is critical civilian infrastructure that ensures people can access life-saving information. It is not a military target.”
The attack is part of a pattern rather than an isolated event. A key Kyiv data center was damaged on 2 July 2026, and infrastructure belonging to the mobile operator Kyivstar was hit earlier in September.
Where Things Stand
As of 25 September 2026, Ukrainian telecommunications providers whose networks were temporarily disrupted have reported that emergency repair work is gradually nearing completion. UTELS has said its data center remained without power while network access was affected, and Etherlink’s node was still being relocated after further damage on 24 September.
Neither MiroHost nor CityHost has given a restoration date for its Ukrainian infrastructure. The Ministry of Digital Transformation has not published a final figure for how many households remain offline, and no independent measurement organisation has published a traffic analysis of the incident.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many People Lost Internet in the Kyiv Data Center Attack?
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said about 100,000 households in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast had internet problems after the 23 September 2026 attack. It has not published a figure for how many remain affected.
Which Internet Providers Were Affected?
UTELS, Pavutyna, KyivLink and Crazy Network reported partial connectivity losses, and Etherlink said its main network node was damaged. Crazy Network’s customers in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts also lost service.
Was Any Customer Data Lost?
No company has reported data loss. MiroHost and CityHost have reported destroyed equipment in Kyiv, and CityHost says it is restoring services from backups held abroad. Neither has given a completion date.
Did the Whole of Ukraine Lose Internet?
No. The disruption was concentrated in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, with Crazy Network customers in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts also affected. Ukraine’s network as a whole stayed online.
What Did Russia Say About the Strikes?
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it struck two Kyiv data centers, New-Telco and United DC, and alleged they carried military and security-agency traffic. Those claims have not been independently verified, and Ukraine says the sites are civilian infrastructure.
