Archive · 9 Oct 2026
Drone Strikes Hit Two Yandex Data Centres in Two Days
Drones hit two computer centres belonging to Yandex, a large Russian technology company.
The first strike set a fire at the Sasovo centre and stopped it from operating.
The next day, a strike damaged parts of another centre in Kaluga.
Yandex said nobody was hurt, but some services had problems and the company was working to fix them.
Powerful computers at Sasovo help train Yandex’s AI system, but the company has not said whether they were damaged.
Other websites and online services in Russia also reported trouble.
Ukraine’s president said Ukraine responds to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres.
The attacks are part of a wider pattern of strikes on infrastructure during the war.
Drone attacks hit Yandex data centres in Sasovo on Thursday and Kaluga on Friday, disabling the Sasovo facility and damaging several Kaluga modules.
Yandex said no one was injured and that it was working to restore disrupted services, though the full extent of outages was unclear.
The Sasovo site hosted two of Yandex’s three Nvidia A100-based supercomputers used to train YandexGPT; Yandex has not confirmed whether they were damaged.
Companies and services reported problems after the first strike, while Yandex shares fell between 3% and more than 4% in reports.
Ukraine’s president described strikes as responses to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres; accounts differ on whether Ukraine explicitly confirmed responsibility for each strike.
- Who
- Yandex; Ukraine and Russia are described in connection with the wider attacks on infrastructure.
- What
- Drone strikes damaged Yandex data centres in Sasovo and Kaluga, disrupting operations and services.
- When
- Thursday, October 8, and Friday, October 9; the year is not specified in the reports.
- Where
- Sasovo in Russia’s Ryazan region and a Yandex data centre in the Kaluga region.
- Why
- The reports describe the strikes amid an expanding Russia-Ukraine campaign against infrastructure; they do not establish a specific motive for these attacks.
Ukrainian Response
Attribution and Impact Uncertainty
Responsibility for the strikes
Ukrainian Response
One Reuters report says Firepoint stated that Kyiv used its FP-1 drones, and Zelensky confirmed the Kaluga strike as a tit-for-tat response.
Attribution and Impact Uncertainty
Another report says Ukraine had not explicitly claimed responsibility for the Sasovo attack; Zelensky said he could not share all details.
Extent of service disruption
Ukrainian Response
Yandex later said attacks had struck at the core of its operations, warned of potential service problems, and worked to restore disrupted services; customers and other services reported issues.
Attribution and Impact Uncertainty
Yandex initially said its main consumer services were not disrupted, and reports said the full scale of the outages was not immediately clear.
Strategic context
Ukrainian Response
Zelensky said Ukraine responds to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres; reports cite damage to Ukrainian digital infrastructure and temporary internet outages.
Attribution and Impact Uncertainty
The reports give no Russian response to the Yandex strikes and do not establish the specific rationale for either attack.
- Facilities affected
- Yandex data centres in Sasovo, Ryazan region, and Kaluga region, Russia.
- Sasovo damage
- A drone strike sparked a fire and stopped operations at the facility.
- Kaluga damage
- Yandex said several data-centre modules were completely disabled; it did not give a restoration date.
- Injuries
- Yandex said no one was injured in the attacks.
- AI computers
- Sasovo hosted two of Yandex’s three Nvidia A100-based supercomputers used to train YandexGPT; their condition has not been confirmed.
- Service disruption
- Yandex warned of possible problems and said it was working to restore affected services; reports also cited outages at other online services.
- Share price
- Reports said Yandex shares fell 3%, 3.75%, or more than 4%, depending on the report and timing.
- Wider context
- The reports describe Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres and telecommunications infrastructure, and Ukrainian responses against Russian infrastructure.
Sources
Ukraine hits second major tech site, expanding range of targets inside Russia
Russian AI Giant Yandex Hit By Second Drone Strike In Two Days As Data Centres Become Big Targets In War
Ukraine expands drone strikes on data centres owned by Russia’s Yandex
Drone Strike Hits Major Data Centre Owned By Leading Russian AI Company
