Ukraine’s drone strikes hit Yandex, Sberbank and VKontakte. Is Russia’s AI future at risk?

Russia’s biggest technology companies have restored many services disrupted by Ukrainian drone strikes, but repairing the damage to their computing infrastructure could take much longer. Several attacks this month hit data centers belonging to Yandex, Sberbank and VKontakte, raising concerns about the impact on Russia’s plans to develop its artificial intelligence industry.

The damage is particularly significant for Yandex, whose facilities house powerful supercomputers used to develop AI models. Experts cited by Associated Press said replacing damaged equipment could prove difficult, potentially leaving Russia with a costly and prolonged recovery.

A Series of Strikes Hit Major Russian Data Centers

The attacks began on October 8, when a Ukrainian drone struck Yandex’s data center in Sasovo, in Russia’s Ryazan region. The facility houses two of the company’s three supercomputers. Additional strikes hit Yandex data centers in Kaluga on October 9 and Vladimir on October 11.


Sberbank’s data center and AI hub in Balakovo, in the Saratov region, was hit on October 14. VKontakte, one of Russia’s largest social networks, reported a strike on its data center in St. Petersburg on October 18.

The companies disclosed little about the extent of the damage. However, users and businesses reported widespread interruptions to cloud services and digital platforms.

The disruptions affected banking, e-commerce, geolocation and ride-hailing services, along with Yandex’s Alisa virtual assistant and multimodal AI chatbots. Russian arbitration courts also reportedly experienced canceled or postponed sessions and difficulties accessing databases.

Yandex restored most of its key cloud services over the following days by using other data centers in Russia. But the return of those services does not establish how quickly the company’s damaged AI infrastructure can be restored.

Damaged Equipment Could Take Years to Replace

Data centers have servers, the power and cooling systems needed to keep them running. So the damage from an attack can extend beyond the building itself.

Satellite images showed serious damage at the affected facilities. Observers said fires may have damaged high-end chips and other essential equipment. Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Internet Protection Society, said soot is harmful to electronics, as per the Associated Press report.

The potential impact on Yandex’s AI capabilities is a particular concern. Its three AI-model supercomputers are among the world’s top 500, with the most powerful, located in Sasovo, ranked 19th.

Connor Martin, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Ukraine’s strikes would likely set back Russia’s AI development further, even though the country was already years behind the United States and China.

Replacing the US-designed Nvidia A100 chips used in Yandex’s supercomputers could be difficult. A global shortage of high-end chips and sanctions restricting deliveries could make repairs both expensive and time-consuming.

Klimarev questioned whether the work could be completed within six months or a year, or whether full recovery would be possible at all.

Russia’s Data Policy Could Make Recovery Harder

The strikes have also exposed the risks of concentrating critical digital infrastructure within Russia. The country’s digital sovereignty policy requires data to be stored domestically, leaving businesses dependent on facilities inside its borders.

Ukraine, by contrast, stored critical data on servers in allied European countries, limiting the damage caused by attacks on its domestic infrastructure.

Nick Reiners, a senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group, highlighted that Russia’s concentration of data and infrastructure makes it easier to disrupt. He said, “The problem in Russia is that they’ve got to cover a big country with air defense and they don’t have enough,” adding, “Because all the infrastructure and all the data is located inside Russia, it’s relatively easier to take down,” as quoted by AP.

The attacks could prompt Russian companies to consider storing data or renting computing capacity abroad. Klimarev suggested that businesses could increasingly turn to European infrastructure, potentially putting pressure on Russian authorities to ease some internet restrictions.

Which Services Felt the Impact

The disruptions were not limited to AI development. Yandex operates a broad range of services used across Russia and former Soviet countries, including search, cloud storage, payments, geolocation, ride-hailing and e-commerce.

Moscow resident Igor Mann said he could not collect an order from Yandex Market, and using a virtual private network did not resolve the problem. Taxi driver Pavel Belyavskiy said he was unable to connect with passengers and had to cancel rides.

The incidents showed how damage to a handful of facilities can disrupt services used by both consumers and businesses.

The full cost of the strikes to Russia’s AI ambitions remains unclear. Although Yandex brought most key cloud services back online, experts warned that restoring damaged supercomputing equipment could be a much longer process, particularly if replacement chips and other components remain difficult to obtain.