On the day of the massive power outages, more than a third of Kyivstar's telecom network operated without main power, and some sites completely lost their functionality. Against this background, the operator's CEO Oleksandr Komarov appealed to users to independently provide backup power for home routers in order to maintain communication during blackouts.
On the day of the massive power outages, more than a third of Kyivstar's telecom network operated without main power, and some sites completely lost their functionality. Against this background, the operator's CEO Oleksandr Komarov appealed to users to independently provide backup power for home routers in order to maintain communication during blackouts.
As Komarov said in his Facebook post, as of 9:00 a.m., more than 30% of the operator's network was without power, five regional technical centers were operating on generators, and about 4% of sites were completely inaccessible. In general, throughout the day, a significant part of the infrastructure was powered by batteries and generators, which made it difficult to maintain stable service.
According to the top manager, Kyivstar has prepared in advance for the current heating season: 99% of the fixed Home Internet network can already operate autonomously for up to 12 hours. To this end, the operator has installed over 80,000 LiFePO4 batteries and invested almost UAH 300 million in upgrading backup power systems in 2024–2025.
However, without the participation of the subscribers themselves, this reserve does not give a full effect. Komarov emphasizes that during power outages, the fixed network remains active, but routers in apartments and houses often turn off along with the electricity. To keep the Internet working as long as possible, users are advised to connect home routers to power banks, UPSs or portable power stations.
According to the CEO, only 15–20% of Home Internet customers have taken care of the backup for routers. During the recent complete blackout in the Poltava region, this figure was about 2%. As a result, most subscribers are switching to mobile Internet, which sharply increases the load on base stations, reduces their battery life, and worsens the quality of mobile communication.
Komarov emphasizes that the operator, for its part, has done a significant amount of preparatory work, namely, increased redundancy and powers critical nodes from generators. However, maintaining connectivity during possible long blackouts requires shared responsibility: if every household that can afford it connects its router to a backup power source, it will reduce the pressure on the mobile network and help the country stay connected longer, even during the most difficult days of the energy crisis.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Kyivstar and the Ukrainian analytics platform Nexinsight introduced a joint tool that allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising campaigns even when the user does not click on the banner or video ad. The system analyzes a person's behavior for two weeks after contact with the ad and shows whether they return to the site or application on their own.
