Russian occupation extends into cyberspace
Invaders’ goals are to limit access, block communication
LONDON — Several weeks after taking over Ukraine’s southern port city of Kherson, Russian soldiers arrived at the offices of local internet service providers and ordered them to give up control of their networks.
“They came to them and put guns to their head and just said, ‘Do this,’” said Maxim Smelyanets, who owns an internet provider that operates in the area and is based in Kyiv. “They did that step by step for each company.”
Russian authorities then rerouted mobile and internet data from Kherson through Russian networks, government and industry officials said. They blocked access to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as to Ukrainian news websites and other sources of independent information. Then they shut off Ukrainian cellular networks, forcing Kherson’s residents to use Russian mobile service providers instead.
That’s also playing out in other parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine. After more than five months of war, Russia controls large sections of eastern and southern Ukraine and has also begun occupying the cyberspace of parts of those areas. That has cleaved off Ukrainians in Russia-occupied Kherson, Melitopol and Mariupol from the rest of the country, limiting access to news about the war and communication with loved ones. In some territories, the internet and cellular networks have been shut down altogether.
Restricting internet access is part of a Russian authoritarian playbook that is likely to be replicated further if Ukraine’s invaders take more territory.
The digital tactics have put those Ukrainian areas in the grip of a vast digital censorship and surveillance apparatus, with Russia able to track web traffic and digital communications, spread propaganda and manage what news reaches people.
“The first thing that an occupier does when they come to Ukrainian territory is cut off the networks,” said Stas Prybytko, who leads mobile broadband development in Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation. “The goal is to restrict people’s access to the internet and block them from communicating with their families in other cities and keep them from receiving truthful information.”
While Russia’s tactics can be circumvented through the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, which hide a user’s location and identity to get around the internet blocks, they might be applied to future occupations.
In Russian-controlled Ukraine, the internet restrictions began with crucial infrastructure built years ago. In 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, the strategic peninsula in southern Ukraine, a state telecom company built a subsea cable and other infrastructure across the Kerch Strait to redirect internet traffic from Crimea to Russia.
Data from Ukrainian networks is being redirected south through Crimea and through those cables, researchers said. On May 30, the traffic of the Kherson-based internet networks like Skynet and Status Telecom went dark. Over the next few days, people’s internet connections were restored, but they were running through a Russian state-controlled telecom company in Crimea, Miranda Media, according to Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik,
a company that measures the performance of internet networks.
Russian forces are also destroying infrastructure that linked the internet in the occupied areas to the rest of Ukraine and the global web, said Mykhailo Kononykhin, head of information technology and a system administrator for a provider that had about 10,000 customers in the Melitopol area. He added that Russian forces were also stealing equipment from Ukrainian internet providers to strengthen connections to Crimea.
In some Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, digital censorship is even worse than inside Russia, government and industry officials say. In the Kherson and Donetsk regions, Google, YouTube and the messaging app Viber have been blocked, internet operators said.
“We’re seeing an occupation
of the Ukrainian internet,” said Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, an internet monitoring service based in London.
Konstantin Ryzhenko, a Ukrainian journalist in Kherson, said many Ukrainian websites and online banking services were inaccessible, as well as social media services such as Facebook and Instagram. VPNs have become essential for people to communicate and stay in touch, he said.
Russia is requiring Ukrainians there to show a passport to buy a SIM card with a Russian phone number, Ryzhenko said. That makes it easier for Russian troops to keep tabs on people with their mobile devices, including location and internet browsing.
“You’re buying the device that is wiretapping your traffic, knowing full well who you are, and identifies precisely all your actions on the internet,” he said.
In some occupied areas, internet and mobile phone networks were shut off, creating a digital blackout. A few Ukrainian internet providers sabotaged their networks rather than turning them over to the Russians, according to the Ukrainian government.
Beyond Ukraine’s occupied territories, the internet has been a key battlefield. While Russia has imposed a blunt censorship regime at home, Ukraine has effectively used social media to rally global support and share information. Mobile apps warn Ukrainians about attacks and give updates.
About 15% of internet infrastructure across Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed as of June, according to the government. At least 11% of all cellular base stations, equipment that links handsets to mobile networks, do not work because of damage or lack of power.
Yet in many parts of Ukraine, internet and mobile service has remained strong. Ukraine’s tech sector has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise decimated economy. Telegram, the messaging and communications platform, has remained available, even in many occupied areas.
More than 12,000 internet Starlink terminals made by SpaceX, the rocket company controlled by Elon Musk, have supplemented coverage, said Andrii Nabok, an official in the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which is trying to restore internet access in Ukraine.
Where Ukrainian forces have regained control of occupied territories, restoring internet and cellular services was among the first tasks. Near the front lines, telecom technicians are escorted by soldiers, sometimes in the face of artillery fire. Prybytko, who oversees some network rebuilding efforts, said telecom workers were the “hidden heroes” of the war.