Ukraine strikes Yandex data centers, disrupting services across Russia

Ukrainian attacks have damaged three of five major data centers powering Yandex, Russia's largest tech company, since October 8, disrupting services for millions of users across Russia and neighboring countries. The strikes have caused outages affecting smart home devices, payments, ride-hailing, and food delivery. Kyiv frames the attacks as retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centers in September, which Moscow mocked as a "digital detox." Russian users report widespread frustration, with a taxi driver unable to withdraw earnings and a Moscow resident temporarily unable to see 1.5 million rubles in savings, though Yandex says funds are safe. The strikes highlight vulnerabilities in Russia's domestic digital economy, which Moscow promoted to reduce reliance on Western tech. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls such strikes "long-range sanctions," while the Kremlin has placed responsibility on private businesses to protect infrastructure from drone attacks.