Ukraine hits second major tech site, expanding range of targets inside Russia
Ukrainian long-range drone strikes have hit multiple data centers belonging to Russian internet giant Yandex, damaging facilities and impacting services inside Russia. The attacks include a strike on a major data center housing supercomputers used for training Yandex AI models, following an earlier hit within a 48-hour window. This escalation expands Ukraine's target set to digital and AI infrastructure inside Russia, causing service outages and disrupting daily life after previous Russian attacks on Ukrainian data infrastructure.
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- ✓ Russia internet giant Yandex confirmed that a second data centre was hit by a drone attack.
- ✓ Ukrainian drones knocked out an AI data center belonging to Yandex.
- ✓ One damaged data center contains supercomputers used for training Yandex AI models.
What changed
Ukraine expanded its drone operations inside Russia to target Yandex data centers over a 48-hour period.
Live updates
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Ukraine Strikes Yandex Data Centers in Russia
Ukrainian long-range drone strikes have hit multiple data centers belonging to Russian internet giant Yandex, damaging facilities and impacting services inside Russia. The attacks include a strike on a major data center housing supercomputers used for training Yandex AI models, following an earlier hit within a 48-hour window. This escalation expands Ukraine's target set to digital and AI infrastructure inside Russia, causing service outages and disrupting daily life after previous Russian attacks on Ukrainian data infrastructure.
Why it matters
The drone operations mark a tactical shift as both warring nations target each other's digital foundations. Russian bloggers have warned that the country's hyper-centralized digital economy remains vulnerable to these strikes. The damage to Yandex, often described as Russia Google, creates immediate bottlenecks for Russian artificial intelligence development and consumer technology operations.
What is confirmed
- Russia internet giant Yandex confirmed that a second data centre was hit by a drone attack.
- Ukrainian drones knocked out an AI data center belonging to Yandex.
- One damaged data center contains supercomputers used for training Yandex AI models.
Still unconfirmed
- Three Yandex data centers in total have been hit by successive Ukrainian drone attacks.
What to watch next
- Further official assessments from Yandex regarding service recovery and full extent of the structural damage
- Any retaliatory strikes by Russian forces against Ukrainian digital infrastructure
confidence 100%Sources used for this update (19)
- consent.yahoo.com — Latest news and current events updates | Yahoo News Singapore
- Reuters — Russia's Yandex says second data centre hit by drone attack
- UNITED24 Media — Yandex Takes a Second Data Center Hit in 48 Hours—Now Its Biggest Russian Site Is Damaged
- Al Jazeera — Ukraine takes aim at Russia’s AI data infrastructure
- BBC — Russian search engine Yandex struggles after Ukrainian strikes on data centres
- Ars Technica — Ukraine’s drones knock out AI data center belonging to "Russia’s Google"
- www.aljazeera.com — Ukraine takes aim at Russia’s AI data infrastructure
- arstechnica.com — Ukraine’s drones knock out AI data center belonging to “Russia’s Google”
- The Daily Beast — Putin Humiliated as Drones Torch ‘Russia’s Google’ in Stunning First
- www.tomshardware.com — Ukrainian drones strike largest data center in Russia, multiple parts of 1.4 million square foot campus k....
- bdnews24.com — Ukraine hits second major tech site, expanding range of targets inside Russia - Latest News
- arstechnica.com — Russia was not ready for the data center war it started with Ukraine
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