Ukrainian Drone Strikes Disable Key Yandex AI Data Centers in Russia

Image: Ars Technica · Source

Ukrainian drone attacks have hit two of Yandex's Russian data centers, disrupting AI model training and online services of the tech giant dubbed "Russia's Google."

In early October 2026, Ukrainian drone strikes targeted two of Yandex’s data centers located in Russia’s Sasovo and Kaluga regions, significantly impairing the company’s AI and online operations. Yandex, known widely as "Russia’s Google" for running the country’s leading search engine, relies on these centers as critical infrastructure, including supercomputers for training its YandexGPT artificial intelligence model.

The attacks occurred on October 8 and 9, reportedly conducted with Ukrainian Firepoint’s FP-1 one-way drones. The strike on the Sasovo data center damaged supercomputers integral to Yandex’s AI development, while the hit on the Kaluga site impacted Yandex’s largest data center overall. Despite the disruption, Yandex confirmed no employee injuries.

Users in Russia experienced outages affecting several digital services including media sites, the Ivi video streaming platform, the T-Bank digital banking service, and Russian Railways’ online access. Additional affected platforms included a dating application, a real estate aggregator, a self-publishing platform for books, and the official site of a leading Russian Premier League soccer club.

These Ukrainian strikes are part of a tit-for-tat escalation in cyber and drone warfare following Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian data centers since late September 2026, which had caused telecom and internet disruptions for thousands in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy framed the strikes as precise retaliatory measures against Russian aggression.

The targeting of data centers in the conflict underscores the increasing role of such critical digital infrastructure in modern warfare. Similar attacks have been observed globally, including US and Israeli strikes against Iran's capabilities and reciprocal drone attacks on Amazon data centers in Bahrain and the UAE.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, Ukraine has faced continual missile and drone strikes against civilian and infrastructure targets. In response, Ukraine has expanded its drone campaigns to disrupt Russian military, commercial, and energy assets.

The recent escalation with attacks on Yandex’s AI centers not only affects Russia’s technological capabilities but also highlights the growing intersection of digital infrastructure and military conflict in the 2026 battlefield.