The Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has taken Vodafone's appeal for access to a damaged cable through which communication has disappeared in the uncontrolled territory of Donbas, Donbas.Realii Radio Liberty has reported referring to the head of Vodafone's communications department Viktoria Ruban.

"Literally a few hours ago, JCCC informed us that our appeal was taken to task. We are waiting. The situation can be solved if we are provided with physical access to the cable even in the gray zone. If our brigades are provided with more or less safe access, then we can repair cable and this will solve the problem with communication if not for all subscribers, then for most of them," the radio website quoted her on Monday evening.

At the same time Ruban assured that Vodafone does not have direct contacts with illegal armed formations.

"We appeal to the Ukrainian authorities, because we are a Ukrainian company and act according to Ukrainian laws," she said.

As reported, the Vodafone Ukraine mobile network operator asked for repair teams to be allowed to enter Donbas to repair communications networks in the ATO zone.

"We have appealed to all those responsible, including the Ukrainian administrations in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the [Joint] Coordination and Control Center, and the OSCE mission: please let our repair team into the grey zone to repair the damaged line. So far, no results. The only hope is that we have not received a definitive 'no' to our requests. But we would very much like a decision to be made as quickly as possible," Ruban wrote on Facebook on Monday.

More than a third of the cellular operator's equipment in the uncontrolled areas of Donbas is currently out of order, the operator said.

Earlier, Vodafone-Ukraine stated that it could not restore the connection that had disconnected due to a cable break in the territory of the so-called 'LPR' in case the cable was cut off in territory that was not under Kyiv's control.

The Mass Communications Ministry of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) said earlier that Vodafone Ukraine's service in the LPR was lost on January 11 due to a fiber optic cable rupture near the village of Olenivka in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. Vodafone Ukraine said it cannot repair damage if the cable is damaged in an area not controlled by Kyiv.