A drone attack on a Yandex data center in Sasovo, Russia, caused a fire and service disruptions, prompting a response from President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Key facts
- •The drone attack occurred in the early hours of October 8 in Sasovo, Ryazan Region.
- •Yandex confirmed a fire at the data center and reported no injuries.
- •The facility houses supercomputers used to train the YandexGPT large language model.
- •President Zelensky stated the strike was a response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers.
- •Russian state media outlets varied in their reporting, with some omitting the mention of a drone attack.
Ukrainian drones struck a Yandex data center in the town of Sasovo, Russia, in the Ryazan Region, during the early hours of October 8. The attack resulted in a fire at the facility and caused temporary service disruptions for several Yandex platforms and other Russian digital services. Yandex confirmed the incident, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as a retaliatory measure for Russian attacks on Ukrainian data infrastructure.
Impact on Yandex Operations
The Sasovo facility is significant to Yandex, as the company previously stated in 2021 that it housed two of its three supercomputers equipped with Nvidia A100 chips, which are used to train the YandexGPT large language model. Following the drone strike, Yandex reported that operations were suspended and emergency services were deployed to the site. The company confirmed there were no injuries. While Yandex acknowledged the fire, reporting on the cause varied among Russian outlets. Some sources, including Yandex itself, cited a drone attack, while others, such as Interfax and RIA Novosti, described the event as an "incident" or a fire without mentioning drones. The outage affected various services, including Yandex Search, Yandex Disk, and Yandex Cloud, with some users reporting broader disruptions to banking services, RuTube, and the Russian Railways website.
Context of Retaliation
President Zelensky addressed the attack during a press briefing on October 8, stating that Ukraine responds in kind to Russian strikes on its own data centers and internet providers. He noted that Russian forces had targeted Ukrainian digital infrastructure in late September, which officials said disrupted internet access for approximately 100,000 households. Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine’s military actions target infrastructure rather than civilians, explicitly stating that Ukraine does not retaliate against children.
Timeline
- Late SeptemberRussian forces struck Ukrainian data centers and internet providers, disrupting service for roughly 100,000 households.
- October 8, early morningUkrainian drones struck the Yandex data center in Sasovo, Ryazan Region.
- October 8, laterPresident Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike as a retaliatory action during a press briefing.
Advertisement
This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by The Insider (Russia), Kyiv Independent.
