Russia’s digital economy is becoming a new battleground as Ukrainian drone strikes target critical technology infrastructure.
Attacks this month on data centres operated by Russian tech giant Yandex and Sberbank, the country’s largest bank, disrupted online services, cloud infrastructure and digital payments.
Three Yandex data centres were hit between October 8 and 11 in Russia’s Ryazan, Kaluga and Vladimir regions, forcing facilities offline and affecting services used by millions of customers and businesses.
While attacks on Russian energy and trade infrastructure in recent months have disrupted production and supply chains, the strikes on data centres mark a shift towards digital infrastructure.
Widespread service disruptions
The outages affected Yandex Go, Yandex Pay, Yandex Mail and Yandex Disk, as well as smart home systems powered by its Alisa AI assistant. Businesses relying on Yandex’s cloud infrastructure also reported disruptions.
Real estate platform Cian, retailer M.Video and internet service provider Dom.ru were among companies affected. Some services resumed with limited functionality, while Yandex said certain cloud-based automation systems remained unrestored.
The company offered fee relief to eligible cloud and Yandex 360 customers and worked with alternative providers, including Selectel, VK Cloud and K2 Cloud, to migrate affected corporate clients’ data and services.
The outages also affected Yandex applications in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where users reported problems with taxi bookings and food delivery.
AI infrastructure under pressure
The targeted Yandex facilities housed two of the company’s three supercomputers used to train its YandexGPT model, as well as infrastructure supporting business cloud services. The extent of damage to the AI hardware remains unclear.
Separately, Sberbank First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin said a drone struck the bank’s data centre in Balakovo, in Russia’s Saratov region, on Wednesday. He said no employees were injured and the bank’s systems continued operating normally.
Regional Governor Roman Busargin said the attack also damaged residential buildings and killed one person.
Moscow reviews data centre security
Russia’s Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev told a State Duma committee that his ministry was working with the Defence Ministry on measures to protect data centres against drone attacks.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the government was discussing the disruptions, adding that it was too early to assess potential financial losses or determine whether compensation would be provided.
Russian data centre operators are also reportedly seeking additional protective equipment and upgrading defences around critical facilities.
The attacks follow Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, fuel depots and logistics infrastructure.
Since mid-July, drone attacks have also hit warehouses operated by e-commerce companies Wildberries and Ozon, forcing changes to distribution and delivery operations.
