Ukraine's Internet System Is A Hidden Weapon In Its War With Russia

Ukraine's ability to keep its internet up and running has allowed its citizens to stay connected to the world despite Russia's invasion.

Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has launched cyberattacks and missiles that have knocked out large portions of the country's internet, but it's failed to push Ukrainians completely offline thanks to a robust telecommunications system.

"Unlike a much smaller country that may rely on just a couple of connections out to the outside world, there is a rich fiber optic backbone connecting the cities of Ukraine," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik. "If one line gets cut, there's other paths to get around it."

"We haven't seen very long-term outages for the larger providers," said Amanda Meng, research scientist at Georgia Tech. "For some smaller operators, we do see disconnections that we've seen for weeks."