Ukraine’s Volia ‘unable to provide services’ in occupied Kherson and Melitopol

Ukrainian cable operator Volia has said it is no longer able to provide residents of the contested city of Kherson in the Russian-occupied southern part of the country with its broadband, pay TV and phone offerings after some media outlets reported that services had been resumed.

Volia said that it had been doing its best to provide residents of the city with communications services for the last three months and resume services where possible when these broke down.

However, because of the Russian occupation of the majority of the city, it said it had been forced to suspend provision of services at the end of May.

“We currently do not have access to the company’s illegally seized equipment and offices in the locality and we have nothing to do with services provided to the company’s customers in the city,” Volia said.

The cable operator said it had returned money to subscribers where it had been forced to cut their services due to the hostilities.

Volia said it hoped to resume services in Kherson and would work to restore communications “the next day” when the Ukrainian flag was flying over the city again.

Kherson has been largely occupied by Russian forces since March, shortly after the Russian invasion began, and has been at the centre of reported efforts by Russia to set up a puppet breakaway state in southern Ukraine. Up to half the city’s residents are estimated to have fled since the war began in February.

Volia was also forced to cut off services in the occupied city of Melitopol in south-eastern Ukraine at the end of May.