Ukraine’s Chief of General Staff, Andrii Hanahtov, has stated that the country is considering deliberately degrading its telecommunication services during Russian drone attacks to prevent Russia from using Ukraine’s mobile networks for these attacks. As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 3.5th year, Russia has significantly increased its drone attacks on Ukraine in recent months. To increase the damage from these attacks, Russia has been advancing the technology used for such attacks and increasing the number of drones used.
Hanahtov said that they won’t completely cut off mobile services during drone attacks, but instead will limit services and reduce their quality. This includes plans such as disabling 4G or 5G services in certain areas during that time. He stated that doing so would prevent the modems in Russian drones from utilizing Ukraine’s networks. Cutting off high-speed mobile internet services would prevent camera-equipped drones from transmitting images, which requires a 4G network. Russia also commonly cuts off mobile internet services to counter Ukrainian drone attacks.
