Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers disrupt services and AI research

Ukrainian drone strikes in October 2026 hit three major data centers belonging to Yandex, one for Sberbank, and one for VKontakte, causing widespread service disruptions across Russia and significantly damaging the country's AI research capabilities. The attacks disrupted banking, e-commerce, ride-hailing, and cloud services nationwide, with experts predicting repairs could take months or years. Russia's strict digital sovereignty policy, requiring all data storage domestically, made its infrastructure particularly vulnerable to such strikes. The damage to Yandex's supercomputers, including its 19th-ranked machine, is expected to set back Russia's AI ambitions considerably. Analysts suggest the strikes may push Russian companies to move data abroad, potentially easing internet isolation, while the global chip shortage and sanctions complicate recovery efforts.