Kyivstar launches first 5G pilot in Lviv as Ukraine enters fifth year of war

By Leo Marchandon and Dan Peleschuk

KYIV, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Kyivstar KYIV.O has launched a 5G test zone in the city of Lviv, marking the company's first local 5G pilot in Ukraine as it seeks to advance infrastructure development across the country entering its fifth year of war with Russia.

The telecom operator, working under a framework established by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, said on Monday it planned to soon expand its testing to war-hit cities of Kharkiv, near the Russian border, and Borodianka, outside Kyiv. Additional pilots in the capital and Odesa are scheduled for 2026.

Kyiv had planned to fully introduce 5G service in 2022 but had shelved the idea after Russia's invasion in February of that same year, said first deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

The current rollout in Lviv - near Ukraine's border with EU member Poland - comes amid a Russian campaign of air strikes on the energy system that has plunged entire cities into blackouts.

"While the enemy is trying to destroy our infrastructure, we continue to modernize and build Ukraine based on the most modern technologies," Fedorov, also Ukraine's digital transformation minister, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The testing locations were determined by the Ukrainian government, selecting the most populous cities with advanced infrastructure, Kyivstar said. Fedorov added Lviv was chosen for the pilot launch because of its high concentration of 5G-ready smartphones.

A nationwide rollout remains contingent on the end of the war, the company said in the statement.

Fedorov, awaiting appointment as defence minister, has overseen a series of digital initiatives aimed at modernising Ukraine's post-Soviet bureaucracy and defence industry.

Kyiv is also hoping to join the European Union, which it sees as critical to erasing a legacy of Russian rule but which requires an extensive reform campaign.