In brief
Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex's Sasovo and Kaluga data centres caused major disruptions to the company’s search, food‑ordering and taxi services. The attacks highlight the increasing use of digital infrastructure as a wartime target. Yandex is operating round‑the‑clock to keep core services running, but full restoration may take weeks. The incident fuels claims that Moscow is shifting resources to repair the damage, potentially weakening its war machine. Analysts warn that targeting civilian tech assets could have long‑term economic repercussions.
Yandex is facing significant service challenges after Ukrainian drones hit two of its five data centres in recent days, underscoring the growing use of cyber‑infrastructure as a target in the Russia‑Ukraine conflict.
The attack on the Sasovo hub – home to two of the company’s three supercomputers – left the centre heavily damaged and operations suspended. In Kaluga, a large data centre that supports millions of daily searches and delivery orders, part of the infrastructure has also gone offline.
Yandex has said it is working around the clock to keep core services online but acknowledges that complete restoration may take weeks or longer. The disruptions have already knocked out some AI‑chatbot functions and could affect the performance of smart‑home devices.
President Zelensky said the strikes were a response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data infrastructure, positioning them as a “mirror‑image” of earlier raids. Moscow justifies such strikes by claiming the facilities serve military intelligence.
Analysts warn that targeting civilian digital assets risks long‑term economic damage and could force Russian forces to divert resources to repair capacities – a shift that could weaken Moscow’s war machine.
