We were still recovering from a pandemic when, on February 24, 2022, the European continent was ravaged by war. About a year and three months after its inception, the importance of telecommunications in a crisis scenario was more than proven.

We have the technology and means necessary to monitor a conflict 24 hours a day. Since the day that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, decided to invade his neighbor to the west, the Portuguese and world communication platforms have been attentive and updated to the minute, multiplying the newspaper headlines, television broadcasts, debates in the radios and social networks.

Much of this content is produced by the citizens of Ukraine who, on a daily basis, share their experiences on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Among these spokespersons is Volodymyr Zelensky, the country's president, who through regular videos appeals for international support and encourages the Ukrainian resistance movement.

Recognizing its relevance, some of the first targets of the Russian army included energy, media and telecommunications companies. The quality of data transmission over fixed broadband networks has declined and several base stations of mobile operators have been out of service. Thus, once again, the telecommunications sector proved to be vital for a country. Remember that the development of the internet itself was justified by a military concern.

The battle between Russia and Ukraine is thus the last and perhaps most important example of the use of information networks as a weapon in war. High-tech industry leaders have even called for Russia to be completely disconnected from the global internet. However, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for controlling the Internet, responded negatively, arguing that the entity's mission does not include taking punitive actions.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), “in an attempt to block access to Ukrainian web resources, the office of Status, an internet service provider based in Kherson, was raided, intimidated and forced to turn on its equipment to Russian networks”. Furthermore, through the occupation of Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure, Russian forces were able to redirect Ukrainian traffic to Russian service providers, thus being able to surveil it. Just 3 months after the start of the war, Liliia Malon, Ukrainian Commissioner for Infrastructure and Digital Services, declared that there were more than 700 national service providers under Russian occupation.

Ukraine claims that Russia is conducting a propaganda campaign to spread disinformation. According to a study by the London computer security service Top10VPN, “the vast majority of digital threats occurred in occupied areas, where Russian forces restricted access to the internet, introduced digital censorship measures and took control of telecommunications infrastructures”.

During ceasefire phases, technicians and engineers race against time to make the necessary repairs and restore services. In April 2022, the Kyivstar operator totaled around 3,000 infrastructure repairs carried out by 450 technicians in 110 cities and more than 10 kilometers of optical cable restored. In total, nearly 90 percent of the telecom company's fixed broadband network had been damaged. By August, the number of km of fiber optic cable repaired had risen to 30 km and the number of repairs had also increased. A few months later, Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister for Digital Transformation, tweeted: “Russia planned to make us completely offline, but our telecom infrastructure has only gotten stronger”.

Despite Ukrainian resistance, telecommunications and internet connectivity became increasingly difficult. The resilience of this country's information and communication systems has been shaken.

Still, the International Telecommunication Union is optimistic that the damage caused to Ukraine's communications infrastructure in various regions of the country will, in the future, provide an opportunity for the country to develop state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure.