Yandex has halted activity at a data centre close to Moscow after a Ukrainian drone strike damaged the facility, marking the third assault on the Russian technology company’s infrastructure within a week.
The firm, frequently described as “Russia’s Google”, confirmed through a Telegram statement that its site in Vladimir, east of the capital, had been hit. No injuries were reported, though the company acknowledged that a number of its services were unavailable to users. Yandex said operations at the centre had been “completely suspended” and that it was working to restore connectivity.
Earlier in the week, Yandex disclosed it was finding it hard to keep its services running after two of its five data centres were struck. Thursday’s attack targeted Sasovo and Friday’s hit Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, disrupting products including the company’s AI chatbot and smart home devices.
The company, which also operates a food-ordering and taxi app used by tens of millions of people, stated at the time that its data centres were essential for the normal running of its services and that it was “very difficult to predict” when they would be operational again.
Kyiv said its forces were targeting locations that generate revenue streams for Moscow’s war machine, and suggested the strikes could compel Russia to redirect resources towards repairing the damage at Yandex.
Sunday’s strike occurred hours after US President Donald Trump warned that Ukraine should “damn well stop” attacking Russia’s oil refineries so that Moscow could release more diesel to the global market. That arrangement has drawn criticism from Europe and triggered a diplomatic dispute with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Both Russia and Ukraine have intensified attacks on infrastructure in recent months, with the war now in its fifth year following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russian strikes on Ukraine persisted over the weekend. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that six people were injured in Russian attacks overnight across four districts of the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, while local officials confirmed that at least 20 people, including four children, were killed in Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.
Russia has struck Ukrainian data centres in the past, causing internet outages and leading some companies to relocate their servers overseas.
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