As of October 18, 2022, Russia had destroyed or taken over 4,000 telecommunication stations and over 60,000 kilometers of fiber-optic internet lines. This is important for the everyday lives of Ukrainians because many government services are now available online and if the digital infrastructure is not in place, it could affect millions of Ukrainians who rely on using the internet for such services. The larger economic implications of such destruction are that each of these stations will have to be repaired, which will bring up the cost of Ukrainian reconstruction. It would be unacceptable to the US, which has spent $41.3 billion on Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to allow Chinese companies such as Huawei and China Tower to build Ukraine’s digital railways of the future. The potential for China to participate in Ukraine’s reconstruction can lead to the data being used to track and target individuals, which is concerning given China’s relationship with Russia.
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