Ukrainian drone attacks have partially crippled an artificial intelligence data center operated by Russian technology giant Yandex, one day after another of the company's data facilities was hit. The development shows Kyiv's military campaign is widening its targets to include Russian technology infrastructure, after Moscow had itself targeted data centers inside Ukraine.
Yandex, a company deeply involved in Russia's AI development efforts, said its data center in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, was struck by Ukrainian drones and taken partially out of operation. A day earlier, a Ukrainian attack disabled a large data center in Sasovo in the Ryazan region, home to two of the three supercomputers used to develop the company's AI models.
The company, which operates under close supervision by the Russian government, said the attacks had hit the core of its operations and that it was working to keep services running. In a statement, Yandex said: "Our teams are working around the clock to keep services running and support those affected. For now this is the most important task, but unfortunately it is far from easy."
Yandex operates a range of apps that many Russians consider essential, along with social networks.
Over the past month, Russia has attacked several data centers and telecommunications facilities in Ukraine, including targets in central Kyiv. Damage from the strikes forced some services to suspend operations, and about 100,000 households were temporarily left without internet after one attack.
After the Ryazan strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "We always respond in kind. Everyone knows they have been attacking our data centers. We are responding. I cannot share every detail."
Missiles and energy
Kyiv has also continued its campaign against Russia's missile production and energy infrastructure, hoping to reduce the airstrikes it has struggled to defend against while weakening Moscow's economic capacity to sustain the war.
Ukraine's military said it hit three facilities linked to missile production across Russia overnight, including a plant in the Tver region that makes missile components and an intercontinental ballistic missile dismantling center in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's General Staff said the Russian "intercontinental ballistic missile liquidation" facility was struck to degrade its ability to supply explosives and missile fuel.
The governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region said a serviceman was killed while repelling the attack, while drone debris caused "minimal" damage to infrastructure. The governor of the Tver region said a drone attack caused a fire at a plant in Redkino, but the blaze was quickly extinguished.
According to Zelenskyy, the Ukhta oil refinery, owned by state-controlled Lukoil and located about 1,900 km from the Ukrainian border, was also hit.
Meanwhile, Russia's air campaign continues to inflict civilian casualties, despite the Kremlin's insistence that it strikes only military targets. Regional defense official Ivan Fedorov said overnight attacks killed one person and wounded seven in the city of Zaporizhzhia. According to state news agency RIA Novosti, Russia's Defense Ministry said it had also struck a cargo ship at Ukraine's Mykolaiv port on the Black Sea, alleging the vessel was used to supply the Ukrainian military.
