The ongoing war in Ukraine has severely impacted the country’s infrastructure, including its research and education network. Despite these challenges, URAN, Ukraine’s National Research and Education Network has managed to sustain essential services for universities and research institutions, with significant support from the EaPConnect project and European partners, including GÉANT.
Strengthening Ukraine’s Digital Infrastructure
EaPConnect has been instrumental in enhancing Ukraine’s research and education infrastructure by supporting URAN with high-speed, secure connectivity. Through EaPConnect Ukraine benefits from a high-capacity spectrum link connecting Moldova and Ukraine to the GÉANT network. This link has a capacity of 100 Gbps, which can be upgraded to 400 Gbps. Additionally, URAN offers a range of digital services by GÉANT, including eduroam, eduMEET, eduGAIN, and eduVPN, which are helping to integrate Ukrainian researchers, educators, and students with the global academic community.
Impact of the War on Network Operations
The risks posed on URAN’s operations by the war are considerable and significant: missile strikes, drone attacks, and frequent blackouts caused by targeted assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have disrupted network stability.
As of October 2024, prolonged blackouts have been caused by the destruction of the country’s thermal and most hydroelectric power plants, along with many transmission facilities. Until the power engineers can restore the grid after each attack, electricity is available for only 4 hours a day, which may persist for several days. In some cases, there may be no electricity for days at a time.
For instance, Kyiv experiences cycles of 6-7 hours without power, followed by 2-3 hours of electricity, with this pattern repeating for days.
Read the full story on the EaPConnect website.
