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An overnight attack on a building in occupied Donetsk, in Donetsk Oblast, destroyed a data center of Ugletelecom and Elecom, the main telecom operator in the occupied Donetsk region, on Oct. 20, according to Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of the Occupation.
Andriushchenko confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the data center was hit on the premises of Postysheva St. 60, in occupied Donetsk, according to his sources.
Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported that explosions were heard in Donetsk this morning and shared footage showing the damaged facade of the building on Postysheva St. 60.
The head of Russia's proxies in the city of Donetsk, Alexey Kulemzin, reported a Ukrainian attack on the city this morning and shared video footage of the same damaged building on Telegram.
Ukrainian officials did not confirm the attack.
Moscow and Kyiv increasingly strike at each other's data centers after a Russian attack damaged a Kyiv data center housing network equipment for internet provider UTELS, causing service disruptions on Sept. 23.
Ukraine, which has increasingly used long-range strikes to weaken Russia's ability to sustain the war, retaliated. Between Oct. 8 and Oct. 18, Ukrainian drones struck three Yandex data centers, a Sberbank facility under construction, and a data center belonging to social media giant VK.
The consequences of Ukraine's strikes on Russian data centers could extend far beyond disrupted banking and online services, potentially setting back the country's AI development and affecting military technology.
73% of Donetsk Oblast are currently occupied by Russia, while the city of Donetsk has been under Russian occupation since 2014. Occupied Donetsk Oblast has been facing one of the most severe water crises among Ukraine's occupied territories. Residents of the occupied city of Donetsk have reported going entire days without running water.
Beyond the water crisis, municipal services have deteriorated, with garbage collection among the problems affecting cities such as Donetsk and Mariupol.