Ukrainian drone strikes disrupt Yandex services across Russia
Ukrainian attacks on three Yandex data centers have caused widespread outages affecting online payments, navigation, ride-hailing and other digital services in Russia and neighboring countries.
Ukrainian drone strikes since October 8 have damaged three of the five major data centers that power Yandex, a Russian technology firm offering services such as search, maps, ride-hailing and online payments. The attacks have triggered outages across Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, interrupting services ranging from digital payments to navigation and food delivery.
A 31-year-old resident of St. Petersburg described returning home to a dark apartment because his smart bulbs, which rely on Yandex’s cloud, stopped working. He told CNN that the experience felt like a power outage for an unusual reason.
A taxi driver in Moscow reported that after the third strike on a Yandex data center in the Vladimir region, the Yandex Pro app malfunctioned, preventing orders from coming through and blocking drivers from withdrawing earnings. He said the disruption forced him to return his rental car because he could not afford to continue driving without income.
A Moscow resident who uses Yandex Pay said her savings of 1.5 million rubles disappeared from the app after the attacks, prompting significant anxiety. Yandex issued a statement that customers’ funds remain safe and that the company is working to restore affected services.
Kyiv has framed the strikes as retaliation for earlier attacks on Ukrainian data centers, while the Russian Defense Ministry previously dismissed those attacks as a “digital detox.” The Kremlin has urged private businesses to safeguard critical infrastructure amid the growing digital front of the conflict.