Besieged by the Russians since February 24, Ukraine is resisting and its telecommunications networks have not fallen. If the mobilization of local operators is strong to watch over the integrity of the networks, international solidarity also comes into play.
There are private operators like T-Mobile, Orange or Play, which provide SIM cards with data and free calls for refugees. But also NGOs like Télécoms Sans Frontières, which now has eight people on site, divided between Poland, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.
In this context of #war, many families find themselves separated. Communication remains the only possible link for those, often women and children, fleeing to neighboring countries. It is why TSF is providing telecom support to refugees and humanitarian organisations. #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/7q3ZsI2rG0
– Telecoms Without Borders (TSF) (@TSF_Intl) March 18, 2022
“We have two main areas of intervention”tells us Sébastien Latouille from Rzeszów, in Poland, where he installed the operational base of TSF. “We help refugees who go to neighboring countries and we support NGOs in Ukraine by providing them with equipment so that they can help the populations”he adds.
Wi-Fi connections on the buses
TSF has, for example, installed free Wi-Fi connections in the daily bus convoys organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that link Moldova to Romania. From Lviv, the organization also provides satellite phones to the Ukrainian NGO Vostok-SOS, which brings medical and food supplies to Ukraine. Not only to compensate for infrastructures that would have fallen, but quite simply because there are white areas in villages that were already not covered before the war.
However, the use of satellite carries a risk. “When you have no or no more communications in an area and you emit signals, they are immediately visible and can be triangulated, thus turning you into a target”, explains Clément Bruguera, the IT and Emergencies manager of Télécoms Sans Frontières. The instructions given to NGOs are therefore to make calls as short as possible and to travel immediately afterwards.
The satellite to ensure network continuity
At the request of the Odessa city hall which is preparing to be attacked, TSF is also in the process of delivering Starlink kits. “The Ukrainian authorities have expressed these needs because the satellite is one of the best means of ensuring the continuity of communications in the event of a bombardment when the terrestrial infrastructures have fallen”emphasizes Clément Bruguera.
Even if this is not its primary vocation, TSF is also happy to relay requests for equipment from centralized Ukrainian operators from the Dutch platform “Keep Ukraine Connected”. They need routers, switches, servers, walkie-talkies, Wi-Fi access points or tools to repair fiber optics.
But the situation is quite unprecedented for the NGO which has intervened in all major international crises for 24 years. First of all, there is the multiplication of intervention points, because Ukraine has many border neighbors. Then, communications were not deliberately cut off as in Libya in 2011, for example. Apart from the sites attacked, the population is not isolated from the rest of the world and the emergency services on site even continue to be reachable via the mobile telephone network. TSF quickly understood that it had to respond to needs that were more targeted than usual and which evolved quickly depending on the situation.
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What are the nuisance capabilities of the Russians?
There is also a question mark. Why didn’t Moscow attack Ukrainian telecommunications more? There was indeed the episode of the cyberattack targeting Viasat’s ground-based satellite network. Russian hackers are also trying to compromise Ukrainian networks remotely. But there is no desire to massively neutralize the infrastructures, nor to cause a blackout of the Internet or the GSM network. Russia probably has an interest in it to ensure the communications of its army.
The problem is that uncertainty remains about its nuisance capabilities when the time comes in terms of jamming and interception. She could easily cut fiber at interconnection points and even sever submarine cables. But would she be able to hack into the Starlink system, which is widely used by Ukraine, or to neutralize its low-orbit satellites which are constantly scrolling? The question remains unresolved. And the Télécoms Sans Frontières teams on the alert.