[ncc-services-wg] Measures to Protect Ukrainian Networks

Dear colleagues,

At last week’s RIPE 85 meeting in Belgrade, the RIPE community discussed ways to further protect the resources of Ukrainian networks. I want to provide a brief summary of what we heard at RIPE 85 and outline what we will be doing next.

At the meeting, there seemed to be general support for the following points:

- Apply a temporary freeze on all transfers from Ukrainian networks until a better solution can be found
- Implement a way for members concerned that they are at risk to lock their resources and prevent them from being transferred for a set period of time
- The RIPE NCC should be able to act on urgent matters without going through the policy development process, especially as policy changes will take several months to complete the RIPE PDP even if there is unanimous support
- Ukrainian operators do not want government to take a more active role in terms of approving registry updates
- The RIPE NCC should move on this matter with urgency

However, we do note that there have been further comments on the mailing lists arguing against a blanket freeze on transfers.

As an immediate response, all transfer requests from Ukrainian networks will be escalated to me until further notice. We will of course continue to apply the highest levels of due diligence when reviewing these requests. This will add some amount of delay, which I think is entirely appropriate under the circumstances and given the seriousness of the concerns that have been raised.

This should be seen as a temporary measure which has the advantage of being something we can apply straight away. RIPE NCC staff are currently investigating additional short-term measures and we will update you on our next steps after these have been discussed with the Executive Board.

We will continue to follow all discussions that take place on the mailing lists in the meantime.

Kind regards

Hans Petter Holen
Managing Director
RIPE NCC