Amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, both sides have escalated attacks on critical digital infrastructure, notably targeting data centers that underpin internet services and artificial intelligence operations. This emerging front in the war marks a significant shift in tactics, emphasizing the strategic importance of digital assets alongside traditional military targets.
In recent days, Russian forces struck a data center in Kyiv and other telecommunications facilities, while Ukrainian forces responded by damaging multiple data centers belonging to Russian technology giant Yandex and Sberbank, the country’s largest bank. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Monday that these strikes against Yandex data centers were in retaliation for Russian attacks on Ukrainian digital infrastructure.
These attacks on digital connectivity come alongside intensified assaults on energy facilities, including a recent Russian ballistic missile barrage that cut power to approximately 600,000 residents in Kyiv. Ukraine’s targeting of Russian oil refineries, contributing to rising global diesel prices, has drawn criticism from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has urged Ukraine to limit such strikes amidst energy-driven inflation concerns ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
The growing reliance on data centers, driven in part by surging artificial intelligence demands, has elevated their importance as economic hubs and high-value military targets. Experts note that drone warfare, increasingly prevalent in modern conflicts, facilitates these precise strikes, a tactic also seen in regional conflicts involving U.S. and Israeli forces against Iran, where Amazon data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were attacked.
The impacts of these attacks have varied. According to Vili Lehdonvirta, a technology policy professor at Aalto University in Finland, Ukraine’s data centers support remote work under constant bombardment but much of its critical data was relocated to American and European servers early in the conflict. In contrast, Russia relies heavily on domestically hosted data centers due to legislation mandating local data storage and international sanctions hindering access to foreign internet services, making Russia potentially more vulnerable to such attacks.
Ukrainian strikes have caused some of the most significant internet disruptions Russia has experienced. Yandex operates several large data centers across central Russia that support popular apps including ride-hailing, streaming services, payment processing, and cloud computing for over 50,000 businesses. Since the attacks began, users have reported outages impacting food delivery, taxi services, cloud storage, and digital payment systems. The company noted its cloud platform was operating in a limited capacity while repair efforts continue.
Similarly, Sberbank suffered service interruptions following a drone attack on its data center, affecting its AI assistant, website, and app. Other affected services included Cian, a leading real estate platform, and the website of St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, both of which experienced downtime.
President Zelensky also claimed Ukrainian strikes disrupted Russian government-run “bots” used for spreading misinformation on social media. Some political figures and commentators on social media linked declines in engagement for certain right-wing accounts to the damage inflicted on Yandex’s infrastructure, citing data from Cloudflare indicating a sharp drop in “bot traffic” from Yandex. However, Cloudflare clarified that the term “bot traffic” in their reports refers to web crawlers—automated software performing tasks online—not social media influence operations. The company found no evidence that the strikes disabled social media manipulation or other malicious internet activities.
Experts warn that repairs could take months, with Yandex facing prolonged restoration work. Comparable attacks in the Emirates months ago led Amazon to acknowledge that some customer data remained irretrievable. Observers suggest targeting data centers may become a more common strategy in future conflicts, reflecting the increasing significance of digital infrastructure in warfare.