Yandex, the prominent Russian technology company often compared to Google, announced on Thursday that it has suspended operations at a key data center in Sasovo, located in the Ryazan region of western Russia. The shutdown followed a drone strike that triggered a fire at the facility.
In a statement provided to CNBC, Yandex confirmed that the attack damaged part of its infrastructure and caused the data center to cease all operations entirely. The company warned that some of its services could be unavailable to users as a result of the incident.
Despite the damage, Yandex reported that there were no casualties and that emergency responders were on-site managing the aftermath. The Moscow-based firm, which operates Russia’s most widely used search engine and has developed the regional leading generative AI model, YandexGPT, is now dealing with the fallout from the strike.
While Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility for the attack on the tech hub, Kyiv has intensified its strikes against Russian infrastructure in recent months. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended the targeting of facilities such as oil refineries, stating they are used to fund the war against Ukraine.
This incident adds to a growing pattern of attacks on Russian critical infrastructure, including previous strikes on retail giant Wildberries. Last week, Zelenskyy announced plans to double down on attacks against Russian oil refineries in response to a new Moscow policy of airstrikes aimed at displacing residents from Kyiv and other major cities.
Escalation seems unavoidable. Kyiv’s logic that oil refineries fund the war is becoming harder for Moscow to ignore.
YandexGPT downtime must be frustrating for developers relying on Russian AI tools right now.