Ukraine Drone Strikes Hit Russian Tech Infrastructure as US Politics Intrigue Swirls
Kyiv targets Russian data centers for the third time in four days, while former President Trump suggests Ukraine needs new leadership.
Ukraine has intensified its campaign against Russian infrastructure, with a drone attack on Sunday disabling a data center operated by the Russian technology giant Yandex. This marks the third strike on Yandex facilities in four days, as Kyiv broadens its targeting of infrastructure deep within Russian territory.
The attack in Vladimir, a city east of Moscow, disrupted Yandex's services, causing outages for users in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Armenia, according to Russian independent news outlet Astra. Yandex Cloud confirmed damage to its data center infrastructure in Vladimir, leading to a complete halt in operations without any reported injuries.
This latest incident follows similar Ukrainian drone attacks on Yandex data centers in the Ryazan region on Thursday and the Kaluga region on Friday. Yandex, often referred to as Russia's Google, operates the country's most popular search engine and a wide array of digital services, playing a significant role in Russia's artificial intelligence development.
The widening aerial conflict between Russia and Ukraine occurs as their ground forces remain largely in a stalemate. These strikes on Russian data centers follow a pattern of Russian attacks on similar facilities within Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the drone attacks coincided with remarks from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Saturday suggested that Ukraine should seek new leadership. Trump stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not been effective in ending the war and implied he was responsible for high diesel prices in the United States.
"I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does," Trump said. He has previously urged Zelenskyy to cease strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, attempting to link record U.S. diesel prices to the conflict rather than global energy market dynamics.
Ukrainian officials have pushed back against Trump's statements. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha responded on X, asserting that Zelenskyy leads the country in a war for its independence with the support of the Ukrainian people. "He has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide. Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well," Sybiha wrote.
Separately, search and rescue operations concluded in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian bombing on Saturday, according to Ivan Fedorov, former regional head and co-chair of the regional defense council. The attack resulted in 20 deaths, including four children, and over 30 wounded, eight of whom remain hospitalized.
In the Bryansk border region of Russia, local officials reported that one man was killed and two women were wounded by a Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday.