Locals in Ukraine have lost internet connection as the Russia-Ukraine conflict worsens, with Russia-sponsored hackers targeting internet infrastructure in places like Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
According to The Verge, there is a significant risk of direct Russian strikes on Ukraine's internet infrastructure. As per the NetBlocks, a digital advocacy group, there has been a big internet outage in Kharkiv, which is roughly 25 miles from the Russian border in northeast Ukraine. Cloudflare spokeswoman claims that traffic monitoring revealed Ukrainian internet services were mostly operating, but that connections from Kharkiv were down.
"For the most part, the Internet is still operational in Ukraine," the spokesperson stated. "After 0330 UTC, we saw a surge in Internet use, which might indicate that Ukrainians are utilizing the internet for news and information."
Currently, netizens are witnessing around 80% of the normal traffic in Ukraine. Kharkiv traffic appears to be approximately half of what it should be. The Kharkiv blackout appears to have started after explosions were heard in the region, however it is unclear if the damage to telecommunications equipment occurred at the time.
Moreover, a partial internet outage began just before midnight on February 23 and lasted until the morning of February 24, based on the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project at Georgia Tech.
The Triola internet service provider, which serves several cities and other places around the nation, including Kharkiv, is experiencing an outage. DDoS assaults on Ukrainian government sites have already been attributed to Russia, but a total blackout would require shutting off telecommunications equipment at the network level, thereby silencing Ukrainians. Earlier this year, when Russia initiated military operations against Ukraine, several cyberattacks rocked the nation, knocking out important Ukrainian government websites.
