Drone attacks hit 3 of Yandex’s 5 reported data centers in Russia
Enemy drones have struck Yandex data centers in Vladimir and Kaluga, following an earlier hit, leaving three of the company’s five reported facilities affected, according to available reporting.
Enemy drones attacked a Yandex data center in Vladimir on 11 October, after a similar strike on a Yandex facility in Kaluga on 9 October, according to reporting from Russian and Ukrainian‑linked channels. Taken together with an earlier incident, these attacks mean three of Yandex’s five data centers have been hit.
Messaging linked to Ukraine described the Vladimir site as a 40‑megawatt data center and reported that it was on fire. The same reporting said that three of four Yandex data centers in Russia had been put out of action, and that three of Yandex’s five data centers overall had been struck. There is no independent public confirmation of the level of damage at each site, but the pattern of repeated targeting is clear in the available accounts.
Local messages from Vladimir described power outages affecting about 5,000 residents near the attacked data center. They also referred to the evacuation of people from nearby homes, highlighting how close large server facilities can be to residential areas and how attacks on them can spill over into wider disruption.
For users across Russia, the strikes translate into the risk of outages, slower services, or interruptions affecting products that depend on Yandex infrastructure. The reporting does not specify exactly which services were degraded or for how long, but it indicates that multiple core sites are under physical pressure.
Operationally, the targeting of Yandex facilities points to an effort to strike at Russia’s digital infrastructure by going after the buildings and power‑hungry hardware behind widely used online services. Yandex supports consumer applications and also business tools, so damage to its data centers can have consequences beyond individual users.
The attacks show that large, centralized data centers are exposed when they are within range of drones. Servers and networks often sit in a small number of big sites for efficiency, and in a conflict those sites can become obvious targets.
In the near term, useful indicators will include any sustained degradation of Yandex services, public statements from the company or Russian authorities about backup measures, and signs that air defenses or physical protection are being strengthened around other major digital infrastructure hubs.
Sources
- OSINT