A data centre operated by Yandex, a technology and AI company in Russia, has been shut down after a drone attack. The incident occurred in the city of Vladimir, located east of Moscow, and no injuries were reported. Yandex announced the closure on Sunday, stating that emergency services were present at the site and that several of its services were unavailable as the company assessed the situation and worked on restoring its systems.
Yandex indicated in a service alert on Telegram that operations at the data centre had been completely suspended and advised users to activate disaster-recovery plans as the platform operated in emergency mode. The company noted that the remaining resource configuration was considered unstable and warned that technical support communications could also be disrupted during the damage assessment.
This incident marks the third attack on Yandex facilities within a week, coinciding with an escalation of attacks on technology infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine. On Friday, Yandex reported that its data centre in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, was struck by Ukrainian drones, resulting in partial operational disruption. The day prior, a Ukrainian attack had shut down Yandex's data hub in Sasovo, southeast of Moscow, where two of the three supercomputers used for the company's AI development are located.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the situation, stating, "We always respond in mirror-like fashion," referring to the reciprocal nature of the attacks on each country's data centres. Russia has also targeted several Ukrainian data centres and telecommunications infrastructure in recent weeks, aiming to disrupt connectivity and digital commerce in Ukraine.