Zelensky says Russia has widened attacks to hit Ukraine's data centres and internet providers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has broadened its bombardment campaign to strike data centres and internet providers, part of what he described as an effort to disrupt everyday life for civilians, according to BBC News.

Writing on social media, Zelensky said the goal was to interfere with "people's ability to stay connected, study, work." He accused Moscow of continually escalating its operations, saying targets now include American and other businesses alongside data infrastructure, and called for a stronger international response to what he termed Russian terror.

The comments followed a drone strike on Friday that hit a business centre in Kyiv, killing four people and damaging a data centre housed inside the building, Ukrainian officials said. A separate strike in the capital killed a 14-year-old boy who held Israeli citizenship, Israel's foreign ministry confirmed. Kyiv's mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, said overnight attacks on the city left seven people dead and 59 injured.

Russia's defence ministry acknowledged striking the data centre site, run by the company Datagroup, claiming it was being used by Ukrainian military intelligence. Datagroup said it was still assessing damage but that its services remained functional through backup locations. Moscow also said it had recently targeted several other data and telecommunications facilities, including firms named as New-Telco, United DC, Kyivstar and Parkovyi, according to BBC News.

The strikes have already caused disruption beyond Kyiv. Roughly 100,000 households in the capital and surrounding region lost internet access earlier in the week because of the attacks, the BBC reported. In the city of Lutsk, officials said digital information displays at bus and transit stops stopped working, blaming damage from the strikes on Kyiv's data centres. Some companies have reportedly begun relocating data to servers located outside the country as a precaution.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia was attempting to choke off access to information that helps save lives, noting that early-warning alerts about missile and drone threats depend on functioning civilian infrastructure. He argued that such systems should not be treated as military targets.

A senior adviser to Zelensky on defence technology, Serhii Beskrestnov, acknowledged that further localized outages were possible and that the cost of internet service could rise as providers cover repair expenses. However, he said Ukraine's network is built with enough decentralization that the country would not lose internet access entirely.

Zelensky said Friday's meeting with top defence and security officials produced additional measures meant to safeguard data centres and other critical communication systems going forward.

The attacks come as Russia has also intensified strikes on Ukraine's energy grid and rail network ahead of winter, while Ukrainian forces have continued hitting Russian oil refineries and fuel logistics sites, which Kyiv says help fund the Russian war effort.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters Moscow would consider resuming direct peace talks with Ukraine, though he insisted any decision would be guided strictly by Russian interests and said Ukraine "must feel" retaliatory strikes. Zelensky has said he is open to three-way negotiations that would include the United States.

In related developments, the European Union approved 6.6 billion euros in support for Ukraine, including funding for military assistance and joint equipment procurement, according to the bloc's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas. Polish prosecutors, meanwhile, opened an investigation into a suspected arson attack on a Starlink satellite relay station, saying evidence points to involvement by Russian intelligence services, an allegation Moscow has not addressed.