Ukrainian drone attacks have disabled several primary Russian data centers belonging to technology and financial firms, including Yandex, Sberbank, and VKontakte. The strikes, which occurred throughout October 2026, have disrupted digital services across Russia, affecting cloud storage, payment systems, and geolocation tools. The damage to high-end computing infrastructure is also expected to delay Russian research into artificial intelligence.
The campaign follows recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centers that impacted internet and television broadcasts. Russia’s digital sovereignty policy, which mandates that all citizen data be stored on domestic servers, has centralized the country’s digital infrastructure. While Ukraine has mitigated similar risks by backing up critical data to servers in the European Union, the Russian policy has concentrated targets within its own borders.
Ukrainian drones struck a Yandex data center in Sasovo on Oct. 8, followed by hits on facilities in Kaluga on Oct. 9 and Vladimir on Oct. 11. These sites house Yandex’s three supercomputers, which utilize U.S.-designed Nvidia A100 chips. On Oct. 14, a strike hit a Sberbank data center under construction in Balakovo, and an Oct. 18 attack targeted a VKontakte facility in St. Petersburg. Satellite imagery shows significant physical damage to the structures, which experts say could take months or years to repair.
The scale of the impact is underscored by the loss of specialized hardware. Yandex’s supercomputers are ranked among the top 500 globally, with the Sasovo facility previously ranked 19th. Because the Nvidia A100 chips powering these systems are subject to international sanctions, replacing the hardware is expected to be a long and costly process. Analysts from the Eurasia Group and the Council on Foreign Relations noted that these physical vulnerabilities expose the "attack surface" of modern AI, which depends on large, immobile, and difficult-to-defend buildings housing sensitive electronics.
Looking ahead, the vulnerability of these sites may force a shift in Russian policy regarding data localization. Mikhail Klimarev of the Internet Protection Society suggested that businesses may begin seeking computing assets in Europe to ensure resiliency, potentially easing government efforts to isolate the Russian internet. While Yandex stated it has rerouted some cloud services to other domestic centers, the long-term impact on AI development will depend on Russia's ability to source restricted components. No specific dates for the full restoration of the damaged facilities have been provided.