Yandex confirmed a drone struck its Sasovo facility on Thursday, 28 May 2026, setting off a blaze that forced a temporary shutdown of the site, which houses tens of thousands of servers.
The incident is the first large‑scale attack on a Russian data hub since the conflict with Ukraine escalated, following a string of drone raids that have targeted energy plants, oil refineries and telecommunications infrastructure across both countries.
While Yandex said its core consumer services remained online, the company warned customers of power disruptions at one data‑centre zone and urged them to reroute traffic to other regions. Nearby businesses, including a state‑owned bus operator in the Moscow region, reported that online ticket sales were unavailable, and real‑estate portal Cian and the Russian Railways website experienced technical glitches.
Online monitoring firm Detector404 logged 58,268 user complaints in a single day, and Yandex’s shares fell 3% on the Moscow Exchange, reflecting investor anxiety over infrastructure security.
In response to the growing threat, President Vladimir Putin has granted the state authority to seize critical infrastructure deemed vulnerable. Reports from RBC suggest Russian firms are negotiating with the government to relocate data centres to countries deemed "friendly" by Moscow, while Ukrainian officials have announced plans to move digital infrastructure underground to mitigate future attacks.