Ukraine has already struck three of Russia's Yandex data centers – only one remains

A data center is a physical facility where computers store information and process requests for digital services. It matters because apps do not run only on a user’s phone. They depend on remote systems that handle searches, bookings, deliveries, payments, and other tasks.

Yandex’s data centers support services including search, the Yandex Pro app used by taxi drivers and couriers, and a smart-home application. When a center is attacked or shut down, the systems behind these services may become unreachable. Users can then lose features even if their phones and internet connections still work.

The article reports that attacks disrupted Yandex operations in Vladimir, Kaluga, and Ryazan. Users in Russia and several other countries reported missing functions. This shows why data centers are important infrastructure. If too few facilities remain available, outages can spread across several services and regions at once.

Ukraine attacked Yandex’s data center in the Vladimir region during the night, according to the article. Russia’s state news agency Tass reported that operations at the Vladimir facility stopped completely. Vladimir is about 200 kilometres northeast of Moscow.

The strike followed two earlier attacks. Drones hit Yandex’s Kaluga facility on Friday, causing significant destruction. The first reported attack came on Thursday against the Ryazan data center, where operations were also said to have been interrupted. Together, the attacks affected three facilities in quick succession.

Yandex’s operations rely on four data centers. The article says only one had escaped Ukrainian attacks: the facility in Mytishchi, in the Moscow region. That leaves little room for the company to shift work elsewhere if another damaged site cannot quickly return to service.

The attacks have affected services that depend on Yandex’s data-center infrastructure. The most prominent example is Yandex Pro, which taxi drivers and delivery couriers use. The Kyiv Independent reported that the app had stopped working, potentially disrupting the daily work of both groups.

Users also reported problems with Yandex’s smart-home application. These failures suggest that some service functions were no longer reaching the company’s operating systems reliably after several facilities were attacked. The article does not identify every missing feature or give a complete technical explanation for each outage.

The disruption was not limited to users in Russia. Reports also came from Kazakhstan, Serbia, Belarus, and Armenia. Yandex had classified its data centers as critical infrastructure on Friday. Under that classification, customers reportedly cannot receive compensation for paid services they lose when the centers stop operating.

Yandex is a Russian search-engine company. The article compares its role with Google’s role in Western countries. That comparison reflects Yandex’s importance as a major provider of online services, rather than describing it as only a search website.

The company’s operations rely on data centers. The article connects those facilities to search and to other services, including Yandex Pro for taxi drivers and couriers. It also mentions a smart-home application. These services depend on Yandex’s infrastructure to keep their functions available to users.

The comparison with Google helps explain why attacks on Yandex’s facilities matter. Disruption can affect more than searches. The article reports that users in Russia and abroad noticed missing functions after attacks on three data centers. It also says Yandex has four main centers, leaving only one unaffected at the time described.

Data centers concentrate the systems needed to provide many digital services. Attacking one can therefore affect large numbers of users and businesses at the same time. This makes such facilities strategically important, especially when a company depends on only a few locations.

The article links the attacks to the wider conflict. It says Russia has systematically destroyed Ukrainian internet connections during the autumn. Ukraine now appears to be responding in kind. The reported targets are Yandex data centers in Vladimir, Kaluga, and Ryazan, where operations were interrupted or stopped.

The immediate effects include failures in Yandex Pro and problems with smart-home services. Users outside Russia also noticed disruptions. The article does not state Ukraine’s official justification or describe the military purpose of every facility. It does show that attacks on physical infrastructure can create broad civilian and commercial consequences through service outages.

In general, companies keep digital services running by spreading data and workloads across multiple data centers. If one site fails, another can handle some requests. This is a standard resilience strategy, although the article does not describe Yandex’s exact backup design.

The article gives a clear test of that problem. Yandex relies on four data centers, but attacks affected Vladimir, Kaluga, and Ryazan. Only the facility in Mytishchi reportedly escaped attack. Users then reported failures in Yandex Pro and the smart-home application, showing that remaining capacity may not fully replace damaged sites.

When too few backup locations remain, services can slow down, lose features, or stop altogether. Recovery may also take longer because the surviving center must carry more work. Yandex’s classification of its centers as critical infrastructure underlines the stakes, while its customers reportedly cannot claim compensation for paid services lost during shutdowns.

In general, a phone sends a request through an internet connection to servers in a data center. Those servers process the request, retrieve information, and send a response back to the phone. This happens when someone searches, orders a taxi, manages a delivery, or uses a smart-home app.

The process depends on physical equipment, not just software. Servers, storage systems, network connections, power supplies, and cooling equipment must keep working. If an attack damages or disconnects critical equipment, the phone may still have a working screen and local connection, but the requested service may not respond.

The article illustrates this through Yandex. Attacks on data centers in Vladimir, Kaluga, and Ryazan were followed by reports that Yandex Pro and smart-home functions were unavailable. The article does not detail the damaged equipment. It does show that physical attacks can produce digital outages across several countries.