Authorities in the southern city of Krasnodar said they will begin using analog air raid sirens to warn residents of incoming Ukrainian drone attacks, as persistent mobile internet disruptions have made it difficult for people to receive official alerts on their phones.
“Drone attacks have been intensifying lately. Unfortunately, civilians have been affected and infrastructure has been damaged,” Krasnodar Mayor Yevgeny Naumov said Thursday, referring to multiple recent fatalities as a result of airstrikes.
“When a drone attack is being repelled in Krasnodar, the public alert system will be activated,” he added.
Krasnodar is among dozens of regions across Russia that have faced increasingly frequent and prolonged internet outages in recent weeks, as air defense forces jam signals used by Ukrainian drones.
Residents in Krasnodar said in recent days that, in addition to losing internet access, they have sometimes been unable to make phone calls or send text messages through mobile operators.
Ostorozhno Media reported this week that people in Krasnodar have been complaining about a lack of air raid sirens during recent drone attacks, with local authorities allegedly saying the strikes did not qualify as an emergency.
The switch to analog air raid sirens in Krasnodar comes as authorities in the Belgorod region warned that internet disruptions there have led to avoidable deaths, as some Belgorod residents have been unable to receive alerts on their phones.
