This figure is down from 87% network availability as of Saturday 26 February 2022, with Mykhaylo Shuranov, Ukrtelecom's director of public relations, explaining that "Russian military troops distorted one of main (backhaul) fibre lines near Kryvy Rig last night. Generally, we've experienced some degradation of capacity in the 10 regions most affected by the war but the network is working!"
According to Shuranov, Ukrtelecom has successfully fixed the network where possible as part of "enormous efforts to support critical national telco infrastructure".
"Thinking about our customers since the first day of the war, we continue to provide services even without payment and we see that usage level is high," he added.
A host of global operators, including TIM, BT, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone UK and Three are offering similar free services to those needing to contact their loved ones in Ukraine.
The biggest priority for the company according to Shuranov is the safety of its employees, who have to be evacuated from several locations while they continue to "serve and to support Ukraine".
"Some of our employees were evacuated from hottest [dangerous] destinations," says Shuranov. "In west parts of Ukraine, we are organizing hostels on our premises to support people who had to be evacuated. I, like many others, stayed in Kyiv."
As Shuranov writes to Capacity, he comments on the ringing of shots being fired between Ukrainians, and the Russian army "that attacks my city" but is emphatic in the knowledge that, "Ukraine is a free country and our state wants our people to be connected and receive free access to information".
Capacity will continue to follow this story as it develops.
(Top image courtesy of Ukrtelecom, Facebook).
