Yandex Data Centres: Three Sites in Three Oblasts Hit in Four Days

Dima Pirogov, head of Yandex's fintech division, wrote on X on October 11, 2026 that "another Yandex data center was damaged," leaving users unable to check balances, pay or transfer money, the Kyiv Independent reported. AirVeto measured the three damaged locations at 220 to 367 km apart, each in a different Russian oblast, hit within four days.

The third Yandex data centre went down on October 11, and payments stopped with it

Yandex's data centre in Vladimir Oblast was completely shut down on October 11 following a reported drone strike, Russian state news agency TASS said, citing Yandex, as relayed by the Kyiv Independent. Earlier that day, Yandex Cloud had reported power disruptions in a zone located at the Vladimir site.

Defence Industry Europe put the damage early on October 11 and reported no casualties. It listed Yandex Go, Yandex Pay, Yandex Food, Yandex Pro and Alice among the services users reported problems with, including in Siberia. Vladimir region governor Aleksandr Avdeyev said the strike destroyed two substations supplying electricity to 5,000 residents, and people near the site were evacuated.

The three sites sit 220 to 367 km apart, in three different oblasts

The first two strikes were confirmed by Yandex. Overnight on October 8, a drone strike caused a fire at the Sasovo data centre in Ryazan Oblast, and the site halted operations, Meduza reported. On October 9, Yandex said that multiple modules at its Kaluga data centre were "completely disabled," Reuters reported.

AirVeto measured the straight-line distances between the town and city centres: Sasovo to Kaluga is 366.6 km. Kaluga to Vladimir is 318.1 km. Sasovo to Vladimir is 220.4 km. These are minimums between centres, not between the facilities. The Kaluga site sits in the Grabtsevo industrial park, according to Fire Point; no source places the Vladimir facility more precisely than the oblast.

The three sites are 220 to 367 km apart, in three oblasts, hit on October 8, 9 and 11.

Fire Point's reply was a joke, and its claim covers Kaluga

Under Pirogov's post, Fire Point answered: "Dima, have you tried turning it off and on again?" The reply is a quip under the post, not a statement about the Vladimir site.

Fire Point's claim concerns Kaluga. On Telegram on October 9, it said Ukraine's Defense Forces used its FP-1 drones to strike the Yandex data centre in the Grabtsevo industrial park. In the same message, per Interfax-Ukraine, Fire Point said Yandex operates five major data centres, two of which had been hit by then.

Kyiv has not publicly confirmed responsibility for the strikes, Newsweek reported, and the Kyiv Independent could not verify the images or the damage at Vladimir.

Yandex is already writing drone strikes into its contracts

Yandex updated its user agreement on October 10 to list drone and missile attacks as force majeure, which can release the company from contractual obligations, the Kyiv Independent reported. Yandex had earlier called its data centres critical infrastructure. Meduza reported the company saying it could not easily give a timeline for restoring equipment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on October 8 that "we always respond in mirror-like fashion," adding that Russia "have been hitting and continue to hit our data centres." Reuters noted Russia has run a strike campaign against Ukrainian data centres over the past month, including targets in central Kyiv.

What this adds to AirVeto's reading of Russia's long-range strike map

The Yandex strikes extend a pattern AirVeto covered in the fuel-supply strikes on Ust-Luga and Primorsk, where economic targets sit well inside Russia. They also follow the September 20 strike wave on Moscow, which hit a refinery. A data centre is a different kind of target: its effect shows up in payments and taxi apps, not in fuel queues.

Wind on the three nights

The sources place the Sasovo strike overnight and the Vladimir strike early on October 11; the Kaluga report gives the date only. AirVeto read the wind over each town centre for 00:00 to 06:00 Moscow time on each night, the window those reports point to, averaging the hourly model wind:

• Sasovo, night of October 7 to 8: 20 km/h from the west-northwest at 80 m; 24 km/h from the northwest at about 500 m.
• Kaluga, night of October 8 to 9: 20 km/h from the south-southeast at 80 m; 44 km/h from the south-southwest at about 500 m.
• Vladimir, night of October 10 to 11: 21 km/h from the southwest at 80 m; 45 km/h from the west at about 500 m.

These are conditions over each town in that window, not a reconstruction of any flight. Powered long-range drones are steered, not carried by wind, so AirVeto does not reconstruct a drift for these sites. Method notes are on the methodology page, and the live map shows current conditions.