Ukraine Strikes Russian Data Center in Retaliation for Attacks

Ukraine has targeted a major data center operated by the Russian technology company Yandex, marking the second consecutive day of strikes on such infrastructure. The attack on the Yandex facility in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow follows earlier Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian data hubs.

Ukrainian arms maker Firepoint confirmed that its FP-1 one-way attack drones were used in the strike on Yandex's largest data center, reporting that several modules were rendered inoperable. This action is seen as a direct response to Russia's recent aerial assaults on Ukrainian infrastructure, including data centers in Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine "always responds in mirror-like fashion" and confirmed the Kaluga data center strike as a "tit-for-tat response." The regional governor reported that nine people were injured in Ukraine's attacks, with five requiring hospitalization.

The Yandex data hub in Sasovo, southeast of Moscow, was also targeted a day earlier. This facility houses two of the company's three supercomputers used for developing its YandexGPT large AI model. Yandex acknowledged that the attacks posed a significant challenge to maintaining its services, which are used by millions of Russians daily for navigation, music, movies, food orders, and cloud computing.

The escalating drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine has expanded to include infrastructure targets beyond energy and military facilities. Both nations have increasingly employed drones against a variety of targets, including ports, refineries, e-commerce warehouses, and, most recently, data centers.

This reciprocal targeting of data infrastructure follows a pattern where Ukraine has previously struck warehouses of companies deemed central to Russia's economy, such as e-commerce giants Wildberries and Ozon, with Russia responding by targeting their Ukrainian counterparts.

Amidst this heightened conflict, footage emerged of a man narrowly escaping a Russian Shahed drone strike in Sviatopetrivske, in Kyiv's Bucha district. The drone struck a children's playground mere yards from where the man was walking. He was seen sprinting to safety moments before the explosion, which engulfed the playground in flames. No casualties were reported, as others on site were believed to be sheltering at the time.

Separately, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the site of a devastating Russian missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky, Chernihiv region, where 22 civilians were killed.