Ukrainian drone strikes damage two Yandex data centres in Russia
Yandex says two of its five data centres were struck by Ukrainian drones, disrupting its ability to maintain services used by tens of millions of people in Russia. Ukraine says the attacks respond to Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres and could divert resources from Moscow’s war effort to repairs.
The Sasovo centre in the Ryazan region was seriously damaged and its operations suspended; part of the Kaluga centre was also taken out of service. The scale of disruption remains unclear, though some AI chatbot functions were temporarily unavailable and smart home devices could be affected. Yandex said no employees were injured, while Kaluga’s governor reported nine people injured in an attack on city infrastructure.
- Ukrainian drone strikes damaged two Yandex data centres.
- Yandex warned that service disruption was difficult to predict.
- Ukraine says the attacks mirror Russian strikes on its data centres.
New here? Start with this
Yandex is Russia's largest technology company, providing search engines, email, cloud storage, smart home devices and other digital services used by tens of millions of Russians. Its data centres—large facilities that store and process information—are critical infrastructure supporting both consumer services and government and military communications.
The Russia-Ukraine war has extended into digital infrastructure, with both countries attacking each other's data centres. Data centres have become military targets because they underpin essential communications, government systems and the services civilian populations depend on. Both sides have claimed the other struck their facilities first.
Yandex operates five main data centres across Russia. When such facilities are damaged, they disrupt services for millions of people and require significant resources for repair. Data centre attacks have emerged as a distinct element of the conflict, reflecting how modern warfare increasingly extends beyond conventional military operations.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Ukraine's position is that Yandex data centres serve both civilian and military functions, with Russian forces relying on these systems for communications and logistics. By striking back after Russian attacks on Ukrainian data infrastructure, Ukraine is pursuing legitimate military objectives—disrupting Moscow's capacity to sustain its war effort whilst signalling that such attacks will not go unanswered. The rationale rests on reciprocity and military necessity: Ukraine has the right to strike infrastructure that supports Russian military operations, and degrading Russia's technological capabilities serves a genuine strategic purpose in defence against aggression.
The case against
Concerns centre on the scale of civilian disruption—millions of Russians depend on Yandex's services for essential communications, financial transactions, and daily life—and whether this impact is proportionate to the military advantage gained. International humanitarian law requires distinction between military and civilian targets and proportionality in attacks; disrupting civilian services, particularly those used by ordinary people rather than combat forces, raises serious questions about whether the military benefit outweighs civilian harm. The attacks also risk escalation, encouraging Russian retaliation against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, and may set a troubling precedent for targeting critical infrastructure that serves populations rather than direct military assets.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by BBC World as “Russian search engine Yandex struggles after Ukrainian strikes on data centres”.