Ukraine has struck a Yandex data centre in Vladimir, east of Moscow, forcing the Russian technology company to suspend operations at the facility and disrupting some of its services. The incident marks the third reported attack on the company’s data centres in a single week as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to threaten critical infrastructure.
Yandex, often described as Russia’s equivalent of Google, confirmed the damage in a statement posted on Telegram. The company said no one was injured in the latest strike, adding that operations at the affected site had been completely suspended while efforts to restore connectivity continued.
The attack follows two earlier strikes on Yandex facilities in Sasovo and Kaluga. The company said the incidents had affected services including its artificial intelligence chatbot and smart home devices, warning that it was difficult to predict when normal operations would resume.
Repeated Strikes Disrupt Russia’s Digital Infrastructure
Yandex operates a range of widely used digital services, including search, artificial intelligence tools, food delivery and taxi-booking applications. Its data centres are essential to maintaining those services, which are used by millions of people across Russia.
Earlier this week, the company reported difficulties maintaining operations after two of its five data centres were hit. The latest attack adds to the pressure on its infrastructure and raises further questions about the resilience of Russia’s technology sector during the prolonged conflict.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted infrastructure it says generates revenue for Moscow’s war effort. Kyiv’s strategy also seeks to force Russia to divert financial and operational resources towards repairing damaged facilities.
The strikes come as both countries intensify attacks on infrastructure during the war’s fifth year, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Attacks Continue Amid Wider War Tensions
Sunday’s strike took place hours after US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, linking the issue to a proposed arrangement under which Russia would release additional diesel supplies to international markets. The proposal has prompted criticism from European officials and heightened tensions between Washington and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine continued over the weekend. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that six people were injured in overnight strikes across four districts in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
Local officials also reported that at least 20 people, including four children, were killed in Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.
Russia has previously targeted Ukrainian data centres, causing internet disruptions and prompting some companies to relocate their servers abroad. The latest attacks on Yandex underline how digital infrastructure has become increasingly vulnerable as the conflict expands beyond conventional military targets.
For businesses and consumers, repeated outages could disrupt access to essential online services, while the damage adds to the economic and operational costs of a war that continues to affect infrastructure on both sides.
