Ukrainian drones knock out Yandex data centers in Russia
Outages hit Russian payment apps, banking, email and maps after strikes on three facilities.
World#08
6 months
Possible wait to replace damaged Yandex equipment
Image: Ars Technica
6 monthsPossible wait to replace damaged Yandex equipment
The short version
- Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out three of the largest data centers owned by Yandex within several days.
- Russian digital services now face widespread outages, including payment apps, digital banking and navigation services.
- The first strike hit a site southeast of Moscow that houses two of Yandex's three supercomputers used to train YandexGPT.
- Russian sources reportedly expect up to six months before damaged equipment is replaced.
Why it matters
The story shows how a centralized digital system can be exposed when its compute sits in a few large sites. Yandex's supercomputers train YandexGPT, so the strikes also touch Russia's AI work. For developers, it is a clear case of infrastructure concentration as a strategic risk.
“has proven to be a weak link”