In brief
Russian search engine Yandex has warned of severe service disruptions after Ukrainian drones struck two of its five data centres in the past 48 hours. The attacks, referred to by Yandex as “seriously damaged,” brought operations at the Sasovo hub to a stop and knocked out part of the Kaluga facility, which houses Russia’s largest data centre and two supercomputers used for AI development. While no staff were injured, the damage has prompted a scramble to keep services running, with some AI chatbot and smart‑home functions temporarily unavailable. Kyiv claims the strikes were retaliation for earlier Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres, drawing criticism over the targeting of civilian infrastructure. As winter approaches, Russia’s ongoing strikes on critical infrastructure could force Moscow to divert resources to repair the damage, adding pressure on both sides.
By Tinshui Yeung · 10 minutes ago
Russian tech giant Yandex has said it was struggling to maintain services after two of its five data centres were struck by Ukrainian drones in the past two days.
Often dubbed “Russia’s Google,” the company runs the country’s most popular search engine, as well as food‑ordering and taxi apps used by tens of millions.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were a response to weeks of Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres. Kyiv claims the strikes were aimed at revenue streams for Moscow’s war machine and could force Russia to divert resources to Yandex.
Yandex said its data centre in Sasovo, in the Ryazan region, had been “seriously damaged as a result of a drone attack” overnight into Thursday, with operations “completely suspended.”
Another data centre in Kaluga, a region south‑west of Moscow, had also been attacked on Friday morning, with part of that site’s infrastructure “taken out of service.”
Yandex said on Friday that its data centres were “critical” for normal operation of its services and that it was “very difficult to predict” when they would be back online.
It said teams were working “day and night” to keep services running, but “unfortunately it is not a simple task.”
The exact scope of the disruption is unclear, though some AI chatbot functions were temporarily unavailable and smart‑home devices may also experience problems.
Yandex’s Kaluga data centre covers an area of 130,000 sqm and consumes as much electricity annually as 220,000 UK households. The Sasovo centre houses two of the three supercomputers used for the company’s AI model; it is unclear whether the machines survived the attack.
Ukraine’s defence ministry confirmed the data centre attacks, saying they could “force Russia to divert resources to repair the damaged capacity.”
Zelensky said Kyiv was responding to similar Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres in a “mirror‑like fashion.” Last month a Russian drone hit a business centre in Kyiv, killing four people and damaging a data centre that caused internet outages for about 100,000 households.
Some Ukrainian firms have begun moving data from damaged servers to facilities abroad. Moscow has justified the attacks by saying the data centres were used by Ukrainian military intelligence, but Ukraine accuses Russia of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. With winter approaching, Russia has stepped up strikes on energy infrastructure, repeating patterns from previous years of invasion that started in 2022.
