“Russia redirects internet in Ukrainian province of Kherson via its own country”

Since Sunday, Russia seems to have been directing internet traffic in the Ukrainian province of Kherson through the infrastructure of Russian providers instead of through Ukrainian networks. The connection was briefly down over the weekend.

Traceroutes show that internet traffic from customers of the South Ukrainian provider Khersontelecom since May 1 via the Russian providers Miranda and Rostelecom and no longer through Ukrainian infrastructure. This is reported by NetBlocks, which monitors obstacles in internet connectivity in areas such as conflict. Miranda is a provider that also offers internet connections in Crimea and depends on Rostelecom for the upstream.

The internet connection in Kherson has thus been restored after it was disconnected on Saturday 30 April. Several providers then indicated that they no longer had a network connection and according to NetBlocks, one of them stated that the ‘unfortunately it wasn’t an accident’. Russia occupies parts of the region and appears to want to annex it. Last month, the Russian authorities announced, according to the Russian news agency RIA want to introduce the ruble in Kherson and to phase out the Ukrainian hryvnia.