Russian internet giant Yandex, often called “Russia’s Google,” is grappling with a sudden loss of capacity after Ukrainian drones struck two of its five data centres within 48 hours. The damage has left the company scrambling to keep its suite of services—search, food‑ordering, taxi‑booking and emerging AI tools—online.

What happened at the data centres?

According to Yandex, the Sasovo facility in the Ryazan region was "seriously damaged" overnight into Thursday, with its operations "completely suspended." The Kaluga centre, located south‑west of Moscow, suffered a separate attack on Friday morning, forcing part of its infrastructure "out of service." Both sites are critical to Yandex’s operations: Sasovo houses two of the three supercomputers that power the firm’s AI model, while Kaluga is one of the country’s largest data centres, covering 130,000 sqm and consuming electricity comparable to that used by 220,000 UK households.

Immediate impact on Yandex services

Yandex has confirmed that some AI chatbot functions are temporarily unavailable and that its smart‑home devices may also experience problems. The company’s spokesperson said teams are working "day and night" to restore services, but warned that "it is not a simple task" to predict when full functionality will return.

Context of the conflict

The strikes come amid a broader escalation of attacks on digital infrastructure by both Russia and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky framed the attacks as retaliation for weeks of Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres, describing the strategy as a "mirror‑like" response. Ukraine’s defence ministry confirmed the attacks, suggesting they could force Russia to divert resources to repair the damaged capacity.

Russia, for its part, has justified the strikes by alleging that the Yandex facilities were used by Ukrainian military intelligence, while Ukraine accuses Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. The conflict has already seen similar incidents, including a recent Russian drone strike on a business centre in Kyiv that killed four people and disrupted internet service for roughly 100,000 households.

Implications for Russia’s tech sector

Yandex’s data centres are not only pivotal for the company’s own services but also serve as a backbone for many third‑party applications that rely on its cloud and AI capabilities. The loss of capacity could ripple through the Russian digital economy, potentially slowing the rollout of new AI features and hampering businesses that depend on Yandex’s platform.

Moreover, the attacks highlight the vulnerability of large‑scale data infrastructure in a war zone. As Ukraine’s firms begin moving data from damaged servers to facilities abroad, the incident may accelerate a trend toward decentralising critical digital assets away from Russian territory.

Outlook and uncertainty

Yandex has not provided a timeline for full restoration, and the exact scope of the service disruption remains unclear. While no Yandex employees were injured, the regional governor of Kaluga reported nine injuries from the drone attack on the city’s infrastructure, underscoring the broader human cost of targeting data centres.

Given the ongoing tit‑for‑tat of infrastructure strikes, analysts anticipate further volatility for Russian internet services. The ability of Yandex to rebuild or reroute capacity will depend on the availability of repair crews, spare parts and, crucially, the security environment surrounding its remaining data centres.

In the short term, users can expect intermittent outages and reduced functionality across Yandex’s portfolio. In the longer term, the incident may reshape how Russian tech firms safeguard their digital assets against the backdrop of an escalating cyber‑physical conflict.