President of Kyivstar: A very difficult day, 30% of the network without power

President of the largest mobile operator in Ukraine "Kyivstar" Oleksandr Komarov reportedsaid that 30% of the company's network was without power as of Thursday morning, November 20, due to severe power outages throughout the occupation-free territory of Ukraine.

"Today is a very difficult day. One of the hardest since the summer of 2024. At nine in the morning, more than 30% of the grid is without power, almost evenly across the country. Five regional technology centers are on generators. In general, the network operates on batteries and generators for a very large part of the day. Unfortunately, about 4% of the sites have lost their functionality," Komarov wrote on Facebook.

The situation with the fixed Internet is better, as 99% of the networks have backup power in the form of LiFePO4 batteries and can operate for up to 12 hours offline.

"When there is a power outage, the fixed network remains operational. But in order to use the Internet as long as possible, subscribers should do their part to back up – connect their routers to a backup power supply. A power bank, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or charging station is enough," he reminded.

As of mid-November, according to the company, only 15-20% of customers had taken care of backup power for their routers.

As a result, the mobile network becomes even more overloaded: when Wi-Fi is turned off, customers switch to the mobile Internet, the load on base stations increases, their battery life decreases, and the quality of mobile communications and data transfer speeds deteriorate.

• After a massive Russian strike on November 19, the situation in Ukraine's power system deteriorated sharply and the duration of rolling blackouts increased significantly. For example, on November 20, some addresses in Kyiv will only have electricity for six hours a day.