Yandex Hit: Ukrainian Drones Strike Russian Data Centres, Throttle Services

Sat Oct 10 2026 02:17:09 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Yandex reports outages after Ukrainian drone strikes on two Russian data centres, prompting worries about service disruptions and the war’s impact on tech infrastructure.

Russian search‑engine giant Yandex says two of its five data centres were hit by Ukrainian drones, forcing a halt to many services. The assault on the Sasovo hub in Ryazan and the Kaluga centre has strained the company’s ability to keep global search, food‑delivery and AI tools running. Kyiv claims the strikes target military assets, while Ukraine warns they are civilian infrastructure. The incident underscores how the conflict is now turning digital assets into targets, straining both sides’ resources.

Yandex hit by Ukrainian drone strikes

Yandex, Russia’s Google‑like search engine, said it was struggling to keep services running after Ukrainian drones struck two of its data centres in the past two days.

The impacts are being felt across the company’s core products – from web search to the popular food‑ordering and taxi apps used by millions of Russians.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were retaliation for Russia’s earlier strikes on Ukrainian data infrastructure. Kyiv claims the goal is to cut off revenue that sustains Moscow’s war machine, while Ukraine insists it is targeting civilian data centres.

Smoke billows from Yandex’s Sasovo hub following a Ukrainian strike on Thursday. (Reuters)

Yandex confirmed the Sasovo data centre was "seriously damaged" overnight into Thursday, with operations completely halted. The Kaluga centre was also attacked on Friday morning, taking part of its infrastructure offline.

The technology giant stressed that its data centres are critical to normal service operation and warned that downtime could last unpredictable length of time. Engineers are working around the clock, but Yandex admitted it is not a simple fix.

While employees were unharmed, the Kaluga governor reported nine people injured in a separate drone strike on that region’s infrastructure. Service impact ranges from limited AI chatbot function to potential smart‑home device glitches.

Yandex’s Kaluga centre is one of Russia’s largest, covering 130,000 square metres and using the electricity of over 220,000 UK households yearly. The Sasovo hub hosts two of three super‑computers that power the company’s AI model – it remains unclear if those systems survived the strike.

Ukraine’s defence ministry confirmed the attacks and warned they could force Russia to divert resources to repairs. Kyiv held a “mirror‑like” response to Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres, targeting what it says are military‑grade assets.

The war’s escalating reach into cyber and digital infrastructure promises further disruptions as Russia prepares for a harsher winter. Over 100,000 Kyiv households already endured internet outages following last month’s drone strike on a business centre.