The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has been heatedly discussing the possibility of temporarily restricting mobile communications during Russian air strikes. This primarily concerns situations when the enemy uses kamikaze drones, using Ukrainian mobile networks to adjust strikes.
This was reported by Fedir Venislavsky, a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, in a comment to UNIAN.
According to him, the issue was discussed at one of the last meetings of the relevant committee:
“There were very heated discussions, and a decision was made to recommend to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to develop algorithms for actions in such situations. The enemy really uses our mobile base stations for coordinate verification and fine-tuning. This increases the accuracy of Russian strikes”.
All components of the security and defense sector are currently involved in studying the situation. The main task is to determine whether the threat can be neutralized in a specific location without mass communication shutdowns.
According to the deputy, there are currently several options. One of them is to block only those SIM cards that are used by the enemy, but implementing this is technically difficult.
“ There is a position that blocking specific SIM cards does not solve the problem, because these cards can be instantly activated, coordinates can be verified — and then there is no point in turning them off ,” Venislavsky added.
Another scenario is a temporary shutdown of mobile communications in the drone flight zone, but it also has both technical and humanitarian risks.
The final conclusions should be given by a technical expert examination. If it is proven that only disabling mobile communications can prevent the precise guidance of drones, the government should propose an implementation mechanism - involving mobile operators, the Ministry of Defense, and the Security Service of Ukraine.
No decision has been made yet, but all scenarios are on the table. If necessary, the Verkhovna Rada is ready to adopt the appropriate legislative decision.
