Yandex, a major Russian technology company, has experienced a series of drone attacks on its data centers, leading to service disruptions. On October 11, its data center in Vladimir Oblast was reportedly shut down following a drone attack, according to Russian state news agency TASS. This incident follows similar attacks on October 8 in Ryazan Oblast and October 9 in Kaluga Oblast.
The Vladimir data center experienced power interruptions in its ru-central1-a availability zone, impacting Yandex Cloud services. Users across Russia and in Serbia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Armenia reported issues with Yandex Go, the ride-hailing service, and Yandex Pro, an application for drivers and couriers. Smart home services also faced disruptions.
Ukrainian monitoring channels circulated images purportedly showing a fire near the Vladimir facility, though The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these images or the extent of the damage. Yandex has publicly acknowledged the previous strikes, with the Ryazan facility suspending operations completely and the Kaluga facility disabling several modules.
In response to the escalating attacks, Yandex updated its user agreement on October 10 to include drone and missile attacks as circumstances of force majeure, which could exempt the company from contractual obligations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on October 8 that Ukraine responds in kind to Russian strikes on its data centers.
