Ukraine targets Russia's tech heart

This month Ukraine hit three main data centers belonging to Yandex, one for Sberbank, and one for VKontakte. The attacks are part of the four and a half year old full scale invasion.

Widespread disruptions across Russia

People and businesses across Russia reported widespread interruptions to cloud services. Banking, e-commerce, geolocation, ride-hailing, Yandex's virtual assistant Alisa, and multimodal AI chatbots all suffered lasting disruptions.

Courts and systems knocked offline

The fallout spread to Russia's judicial system, reportedly forcing arbitration courts to cancel or postpone sessions and cutting database access.

Repair timeline measured in years

Most experts predict repairing the damage could take months, if not years. Some warn that Moscow's aspirations to become a leader in AI development could be significantly set back.

AI race setback declared

Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Internet Protection Society activist group, said the strikes have set Russia far behind in the AI race.

“This effectively sets Russia far behind in the AI race”

Data centers targeted on both sides

Russian missiles and drones have pummeled Ukraine's power grid and other key sites. Ukraine retaliated with waves of drone attacks against Russian oil refineries and data centers.

Timeline of the strikes

On October eighth, Ukrainian drones hit a Yandex data center in Sasovo in the Ryazan region.Kaluga was hit October ninth, Vladimir October eleventh, Sberbank's facility in Balakovo October fourteenth, and VKontakte's in St.Petersburg October eighteenth.

Why data centers are soft targets

Data centers are massive buildings packed with servers and supporting power and cooling infrastructure. Lasting damage can result from a drone carrying a relatively light load of explosives.

Russia's sovereignty policy backfires

Moscow's strict digital sovereignty policy requires all data storage at home. Ukraine stored critical data on servers in allied European countries, limiting damage from Russian attacks.

Yandex's supercomputers ranked globally

Yandex's three supercomputers used to develop AI models are ranked among the top five hundred in the world. Its most powerful computer at Sasovo was ranked nineteenth.

Chip shortage compounds the damage

Russia likely will struggle to quickly replace the U.S. designed Nvidia A one hundred chips powering Yandex's supercomputers. Global chip deficit and sanctions on delivery to Russia will make repairs long and costly.

Repair timeline remains uncertain

Mikhail Klimarev said the global deficit of high end chips combined with sanctions on their delivery to Russia will make repairs long and costly.

“I'm not sure it can be done in half a year, a year, or even at all”