Ukrainian drones hit Yandex, Sber and VKontakte data centres across five Russian regions

Situation Overview

On 23 October 2026, Ukrainian drones struck data-centre facilities belonging to Yandex, a Sber centre and a VKontakte server farm across five Russian regions, causing persistent failures in payments, navigation and cloud services. The attacks targeted three Yandex facilities, one Sber facility and a VKontakte server farm, with the resulting outages reported as severe across Russia’s payment and cloud operations. Experts cited in the reporting said restoring the affected infrastructure could take months or years, indicating a potentially long disruption to Russia’s AI and digital services. The next concrete development reported is the ongoing restoration effort for the damaged data-centre infrastructure, with no specific dates for repairs or follow-on strikes stated.

Geopolitical Implications

1. 01

   Drone strikes are being used against Russia’s digital and payments infrastructure, broadening pressure beyond conventional battlefield targets.

2. 02

   Long restoration timelines could constrain Russia’s AI and cloud-dependent services.

Key Signals

• —

  Updates on the restoration timeline for the affected Yandex, Sber and VKontakte data-centre infrastructure

• —

  Any additional reported strikes on other Russian cloud or payments facilities

Topics & Keywords

Market Impact Analysis

AI Threat Assessment

Event Timeline