Яндекс под ударом ВСУ. Что дальше? | Украина бьет по дата-центрам, Ростелеком и ВК — следующие?

Reported Attacks on Yandex Data Centers

The video argues that reported Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centers exposed how dependent Russian businesses and internet users have become on a small number of centralized facilities.

Reported attacks and outages

The presenter says strikes between October 8 and 11 affected sites in Kaluga, Sasovo in the Ryazan region, and the Vladimir region. Three of Yandex’s five Russian data centers were reportedly damaged or put out of service, though the extent of the damage and the amount of capacity lost remain unclear.

Effects on users and companies

The outages disrupted Yandex services, including Disk, Mail, Pay, Go, and Alice, as well as services from other companies that rely on Yandex infrastructure. Users reportedly had trouble accessing files and making payments, while taxi wait times and prices increased.

Yandex said account records were replicated and checked, and that customer funds were safe.

Why the disruption spread

Yandex’s data centers also provide computing, storage, and applications to outside businesses through Yandex Cloud. The video says traffic could be shifted to other facilities when one site failed, but some services and customers remained tied to the damaged locations. This creates a risk that failures could cascade as surviving centers take on more load.

Recovery and business risks

Rebuilding a data center is more difficult than repairing an ordinary warehouse. It requires power and communications infrastructure, replacement servers, and specialist equipment that may be costly and difficult to obtain under sanctions.

The video cites an estimate of 500–800 million rubles in damage at Sasovo and says recovery could take months. It also notes that Yandex’s shares fell and that customers may move their data or applications to competitors.

Wider infrastructure vulnerability

The presenter warns that other major Russian data centers and cloud providers, including facilities associated with Rostelecom and Selectel, could also be vulnerable. The video argues that restrictions on foreign infrastructure and reliance on domestic providers increase the consequences of damage to local facilities.

Distributed or modular data centers are discussed as possible ways to reduce reliance on a few large sites, though practical constraints include power, fiber connections, and distance.

Political commentary and practical advice

The presenter frames the outages as another cost of the war and criticizes businesses for acting as if the conflict would not affect them. He argues that monopoly and over-centralization leave users and smaller companies especially exposed.

Viewers are advised to keep offline or independent backups of important files and to have alternative services available.

Presenters and contributors

The video names:

• Ilya Varlamov, presenter
• Sergey Petrenko, former head of Yandex Ukraine, interviewed
• Alexander Savitsky, founder of the Pals app, whose account is discussed
• Volodymyr Zelensky
• Alexey Zhuravlev
• Tigran Khudoverdyan
• Andy Jassy
• Margarita Simonyan