The Kremlin temporarily halted Internet services on several occasions over the summer due to Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory.

As reported by the Financial Times, an increase in drone attacks from Ukraine has led to disruptions for consumers, companies, and public services in Russia.

The FT notes that the local blackouts have lasted from a few hours to several weeks over the summer.

Blackouts have been enforced by Russia's government due to Kyiv using mobile-guided drones to hit Russian air bases.

Enforced shutdowns have often occurred in areas around military facilities, where local authorities cut mobile networks in an effort to disrupt drone guidance.

During July and August, there were more than 2,000 mobile data outages, according to data from Na Svyazi, a Russian technical support project. DCD was unable to independently verify these figures.

Na Svyazi previously told Bloomberg that there were 654 intentional mobile data shutdowns across the country in June.

Drones rely on mobile signals in order to locate their target. Ukrainian drone strikes have become more frequent since the success of Operation Spiderweb, where drones smuggled into Russia were able to attack several air bases.

The outages in Russia have impacted cash registers, stopped buses from validating transport cards, and left delivery drivers unable to locate addresses.

“The war has finally reached Russia,” said Mikhail Klimarev, director of Internet Protection Society, an exiled Russian digital rights group. “Drones are arriving, and this is how they’re trying to defend themselves.”

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022 after Russia's invasion of the country.

The outages have reportedly hurt the country's economy, which has already taken a huge hit from the impact of the war, with heavy sanctions imposed on the country.

It's estimated by Internet Protection Society that a one-hour blackout in Russia costs Russia 46.4bn roubles ($557.1mn) nationwide, and 9.6bn roubles ($115.1mn) in Moscow alone.

Several telecoms companies, including vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia, have exited Russia because of the war.

It's led to Russia investing in domestic telecoms manufacturing due to sanctions against the country, following its illegal invasion of Ukraine.