In brief
Russian search engine Yandex is grappling with major service disruptions after Ukrainian drones struck two of its key data centres. The strike on the Sasovo hub in Ryazan and the Kaluga site caused significant damage and halted operations. Yandex’s CEO described the situation as “very difficult to predict” when services would resume, while Kyiv’s president justified the attacks as retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. The incidents highlight the escalating cyber and physical targeting of critical internet infrastructure amid the Russo‑Ukraine war. Both sides claim the strikes are aimed at weakening the opponent’s war machine and redirecting resources.
Russian internet giant Yandex has confirmed that two of its five data centres were struck by Ukrainian drones over the past two days, causing brutal outages for its services. The company, often dubbed “Russia’s Google,” runs the country’s most popular search engine, a food‑ordering platform, and a ridesharing app used by millions.
The Sasovo site in the Ryazan region suffered “serious damage,” with operations completely suspended overnight, while a Kaluga site, one of Russia’s largest data hubs, lost part of its infrastructure after a morning strike. Yandex said the centre houses two of three supercomputers used to develop its AI models, leaving uncertainty about the survival of these systems.
Tass, the state news agency, reports that AI chatbot functions and smart‑home devices are temporarily unavailable, though almost all employees survived the attacks. Moscow's opposition to these strikes is rooted in claims that the sites serve Ukrainian military intelligence, whereas Kyiv condemns the strikes as deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelensky positioned the attacks as a mirrored response to Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres that have caused widespread outages for the civilian population.
With war in Ukraine drawing closer to a new winter, Russia has intensified attacks on energy infrastructure while focusing on critical data capabilities. The ongoing exchange underscores the vulnerability of essential internet services in modern warfare, as both sides seek to strain the opponent’s resources and morale.
