The company confirmed Sunday that the attack forced the complete shutdown of the data centre, disrupting several services and raising concerns about the security of Russia’s technology and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

No injuries were reported, but emergency response teams were deployed to the facility as engineers began assessing the damage and exploring options to restore operations.

In a service alert published on Telegram, Yandex warned customers that the affected facility was no longer operational and advised them to activate backup systems.

“Operations at the data centre have been completely suspended,” the company said, adding that its remaining infrastructure was operating under emergency conditions.

Yandex also cautioned that the available computing resources were unstable and that communications with technical support teams could be disrupted during recovery efforts.

The latest incident follows two earlier attacks on the company’s data infrastructure as Russia and Ukraine intensify strikes against each other’s technological assets.

On Friday, Yandex reported that Ukrainian drones had struck its data centre in Russia’s Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, damaging the facility and partially disrupting operations.

A day earlier, another Ukrainian drone attack reportedly forced the shutdown of a Yandex data hub in Sasovo, southeast of the Russian capital.

The Sasovo facility is particularly significant because it houses two of the three supercomputers used to develop Yandex’s artificial intelligence models.

Often described as Russia’s equivalent of Google, Yandex plays a major role in the country’s digital economy, providing online services and developing advanced AI technologies.

The repeated attacks have drawn attention to the increasing vulnerability of data centres and computing infrastructure as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine extends beyond conventional military targets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Thursday that Kyiv’s strikes on Russian technology infrastructure were a response to Moscow’s attacks on similar facilities in Ukraine.

“We always respond in mirror-like fashion,” Zelenskyy said.

He accused Russian forces of repeatedly targeting Ukrainian data centres and suggested that Ukraine would continue responding, although he declined to provide operational details.

The latest attack underscores the growing importance of digital infrastructure in the conflict, with data centres and advanced computing systems increasingly exposed to long-range drone strikes.

Yandex has not provided a timeline for restoring the Vladimir facility, while the full extent of the damage and its potential impact on the company’s AI development remain unclear.