UN releases UN report about Ukraine’s damages to its telecom infrastructure by Russia
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, (Reuters) – Ukraine will need to spend at least $1.79 billion in order to restore its telecommunications sector back to prewar levels. This was according to a U.N. agency in a Friday report that claimed Russia had “destroyed totally or seized” networks in some parts of the country.
In April, the ITU (Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union) was asked to conduct a sensitive damage assessment of Ukraine’s communications networks. It is a long-awaited and highly anticipated task.
The first six months of the war were covered by the report. It found that communications infrastructure was damaged in more than ten of the 24 Ukrainian regions.
The report stated that “Since beginning military attacks, with a purpose to use the facilities in its own interests, the aggressor either destroyed complete or seized regular operation of public, private terrestrial telecommunications and critical infrastructure in temporarily occupied and war affected territories of Ukraine.”
It also claims that Moscow unilaterally switched Ukrainian dialling code fixed by U.N. agencies to Russian ones, and that there were 1,123 cyber attacks on Ukraine.
A Russian diplomat in Geneva refuted the allegations and said they were made to distract attention from the unspecified “atrocities,” committed by Ukraine on Russian-occupied territory.
Moscow’s foreign ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Since its 2014 annexation in Crimea, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine with cyberattacks. These cyberattacks on Ukraine’s government and banks websites were intensified after Russia sent troops into Ukraine last January. Russia denies being behind these and other attacks.
In late December, the U.N.’s report, which contains information up to August, was posted quietly in a corner of ITU’s website. A spokesperson for Reuters brought the matter to our attention on Friday afternoon, after receiving numerous requests for information.
Privately, Western diplomats expressed disappointment at the delay in publication of the report.
In September, the EU sent a request to China’s ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao asking for his release. A letter seen by Reuters revealed that this was done. Zhao replied to the EU a few more days later to state that the damage assessment was still being done, as the response showed.
The ITU did not comment publicly on the report, and it did not respond to a request for additional comment on Friday.
Geneva-based agency founded in 1865.
(Additional reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault Farber; Editing done by Raissa Kazolowsky