Ukraine has expanded its drone attacks on Russian infrastructure, striking and partly disabling data centers operated by the technology company Yandex. On Oct. 9, Ukraine hit a Yandex data center in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow. This followed a strike on Oct. 8 that shut down Yandex's major data hub in Sasovo, in the Ryazan region, which houses two of the three supercomputers used to develop the company's AI model.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been expanding drone attacks this year on infrastructure targets, including energy facilities, refineries, ports, and most recently, data centers. Yandex stated that the attacks struck at the core of its operations and that it is working to keep its services running, noting that millions of users rely on its services for daily tasks and that hundreds of thousands of companies use its technology for their businesses.
Several modules of the Kaluga data center were completely disabled, Yandex said in a statement carried by pro-government Russian newspaper Vedomosti. "Some Yandex services may experience disruptions as a result," the company said, adding that the full extent of the damage was still being assessed. Yandex reported no injuries at the facility.
The Sasovo facility houses tens of thousands of servers and two of the company's three supercomputers used to develop artificial intelligence models. Yandex said it was still assessing whether damaged equipment could be restored. The attack coincided with reports of widespread internet disruptions across Russia, affecting banking services, transport websites, and online platforms.
Responding to questions about the Sasovo strike on Oct. 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would continue retaliating against Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers. "We certainly are capable," Zelensky said. "We always respond in kind. Regarding data centers, as you all know, they have been and still are striking our data centers." "We responded to them," he added. "I cannot share all the details."
Russian forces struck several Ukrainian internet providers and data centers in Kyiv in late September, disrupting internet access for approximately 100,000 households, according to Ukrainian officials.
