The Ukrainian operator said the restoration will continue to progress gradually and in stages but setbacks during the process are possible.
The operator had initially targeted Wednesday to resume services that were cut off in an attack Kyivstar’s CEO, Oleksandr Komarov said was linked the war with Russia.
Its technical teams are working on restoring data and SMS messaging services alongside voice. Kyivstar are aiming to start making data and SMS services available again on Saturday.
The company is working in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, government services, and the Security Service of Ukraine, to identify the circumstances of the attack.
Kyivstar claim that that consumer data has not been compromised, although hacker groups have refuted this claim on social media.
VEON and Kyivstar are also conducting a thorough investigation to determine the full extent and impact of the incident, and to implement additional security measures to prevent any recurrence.
Kyivstar said the full financial impact of the breach remains unquantifiable at this stage as the restoration of services continue.
"War is also happening in cyberspace. Unfortunately, we have been hit as a result of this war," Komarov told Ukrainian television stations.
"(The attack) significantly damaged (our) infrastructure, limited access, we could not counter it at the virtual level, so we shut down Kyivstar physically to limit the enemy's access."
VEON and Kyivstar thanked Ukrainian government agencies for their response and assistance in addressing the attack.
