Could Ukraine be left without communications? The Prime Minister warned about the worst-case scenario

After a series of Russian strikes on data centers and other telecommunications infrastructure in Ukraine, the question has again arisen whether widespread disruptions to the internet and communications are possible. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said that the threat to digital and communications infrastructure remains high until the end of the war, and the state is preparing various protection options. He said this on 27 September 2026 in an interview with the TSN.Tyzhden program.

According to the prime minister, the protection of data centers and mobile communications was already discussed at a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s staff. The government is considering different ways to back up digital infrastructure: some equipment and data can be placed underground, in cloud environments, or outside Ukraine. At the same time, Serhii Koretskyi emphasized that there is no universal protection method, so different options may be combined. Speaking about whether there is a threat of a complete loss of internet in Ukraine, the prime minister noted that the danger to the entire infrastructure will persist until the end of the war.

“The threat exists for the entire infrastructure. It was, is and will be until the end of the war,” emphasized Serhii Koretskyi.

At the same time, the head of government said the state is working to ensure network resilience and to prevent a complete interruption of communications. Combined solutions are being used for this, including backing up infrastructure in different locations.

“First, we protect. Second, there are non-standard solutions. Some things should be underground, some in the cloud, some abroad, some a combination of these options, and some — all three at once. So there is no single rule, but the fact that you need to plan and prepare for the worst-case scenario is true,” the prime minister said.

The statements of Serhii Koretskyi came against the backdrop of attacks on telecommunications infrastructure. In particular, on 23 September 2026 a Russian strike damaged several data centers in Kyiv, after which some subscribers faced outages of internet and certain services. According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, about 100,000 households in Kyiv and the region were affected at that time.

The consequences of the attacks were felt in other regions as well. In particular, on 26 September 2026 in Mykolaiv some online TV channels stopped broadcasting after one of the Kyiv data centers was damaged. Local provider “Dykyi Sad” reported that the timeline for a full restoration of broadcasts remained unknown at that time.

At the same time, expert assessments of a possible total disconnection of Ukraine from the internet differ from the most alarming scenarios. The founder of MiroHost and head of Internet Invest, Oleksandr Olshansky, after the attack on the data centers said that a complete destruction of communications in Ukraine under the current network architecture is unlikely, although some services may operate with disruptions or more slowly. He also reported that about 95% of MiroHost clients were unaffected thanks to capacity backups in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Thus, the prime minister’s words do not mean that Ukraine is guaranteed to be left without the internet. This is about the state preparing for the worst possible development of events amid attacks on digital infrastructure. At the same time, some outages have already occurred, and the authorities and operators are working on backing up and protecting critically important systems.

Earlier we wrote:

• Some online TV channels disappeared in Mykolaiv after the strike on the Kyiv data center
• Could Ukrainians be left without the internet: what will happen after Russia’s strikes on data centers
• Russia is striking Ukraine’s data centers to pressure the economy — ISW
• Network restoration takes time: some CNAP services in Mykolaiv will be unavailable for several days