# Did Ukraine's data centre strikes stop Russian bots?

> Zelensky claimed Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres reduced Kremlin bot networks, but experts say there is no evidence the attacks significantly affected disinformation operations.
- Title: Did Ukraine's data centre strikes stop Russian bots?
- Summary: Zelensky claimed Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres reduced Kremlin bot networks, but experts say there is no evidence the attacks significantly…
- Keywords: volodymyr zelensky, ukraine, russia, yandex, disinformation, bots, data centres, influence operations, news, world, Did, Ukraine's
- Source: BBC News — https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9y7l0pm8jkko
- Published: 2026-10-13T13:27:31.595+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: volodymyr zelensky, ukraine, russia, yandex, disinformation, bots, data centres, influence operations, news, world
## Zelensky claims bots are down
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested on Monday there was less hate, division and fewer provocations online because of fewer bots following data centre strikes.

> less hate, less division and fewer provocations
## Ukraine strikes Yandex three times
Ukraine has struck three of Russian tech giant Yandex's five data centres since October eighth in response to Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian internet hubs.
## Claims rest on misread data
Claims that the attacks reduced disinformation appear to come from misinterpretation of Cloudflare data showing bot activity using Yandex's network has declined.
## Cloudflare clarifies what data shows
Cloudflare clarified its data includes all automated internet requests to websites, including bots crawling for information, not necessarily bot behaviour on social media platforms.

> not necessarily bot behaviour on social media platforms
## Researchers find no change
Researchers from dTeam, tracking Moscow-linked influence operations, told BBC Verify there has been no traffic change from known Russian accounts and bot clusters on any platform.

> any traffic change from known Russian accounts and bot clusters on any platform
## Pro-Kremlin bots still active
Bots linked to pro-Kremlin operations like Storm-1516 and Matryoshka were still active on social media on Tuesday, evidence shared with BBC Verify by dTeam shows.
## Strikes disrupted services, not bots
While there is no evidence the strikes affected Russia's influence operations, they have disrupted internet services for many users globally relying on Yandex's cloud services.
## Key takeaway

Ukrainian President Zelensky said data centre strikes reduced Russian bots and online hate, but researchers found no evidence the attacks disrupted Kremlin disinformation campaigns.