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Why Data Centres Have Become Part of the Russia–Ukraine War

Attacks on data centres can disrupt online services, but the available reports leave important questions about the damage and its lasting effects.

WorldOctober 13, 20263 min readHow Sureno writes this

The short version

Data centres store and process digital information, so damage to them can interrupt the online services that depend on that computing capacity.
A report says Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres and mobile networks disrupted internet and phone service for as many as 100,000 households in Kyiv temporarily ¹.
The same report says Ukrainian drone strikes later hit three large data centres owned by Russian company Yandex within several days, followed by outages in Russian digital services ¹.
The sources do not establish how long the outages lasted, the full damage, or whether the strikes changed either side’s military capabilities.

Why are data centres targets in the war?

A data centre is a facility containing computer systems that store and process information. Many digital services rely on such facilities to run. If a centre is damaged or loses power or network connections, some services may become unavailable or work less reliably.

That makes data centres part of the infrastructure behind everyday digital life, as well as potential targets during a conflict. But the reporting provided here does not show which particular services or military systems were affected by the strikes. It would be wrong to assume that an outage automatically means a military capability was disrupted.

What has happened to data centres in Ukraine and Russia?

According to a report published on October 12, 2026, Russia began a campaign against Ukrainian data centres and mobile phone networks in late September. The attacks temporarily interrupted internet and mobile service for as many as 100,000 households in Kyiv ¹.

The report says Ukraine then struck three of the largest data centres belonging to Russian technology company Yandex within several days. Russian digital services experienced widespread outages afterward, though the available account does not give a complete list of affected services or explain the exact cause of each outage ¹.

Why might a centralised digital system be vulnerable?

Centralisation means that many services depend on a relatively limited set of major facilities or systems. If key sites are disrupted, the effects can spread to many users. Russian bloggers quoted in the report warned that Russia’s digital economy was highly centralised and might therefore be vulnerable ¹.

The same report says those commentators thought Ukraine’s more decentralised digital services might prove more resilient. That is a warning and a comparison, not a demonstrated conclusion: the supplied sources do not provide technical details that would let readers assess how either country’s systems are organised or how well they can recover.

What can an outage mean for ordinary people?

For people who rely on affected services, an outage can mean that a website, app, or other online service is temporarily unavailable. The clearest reported effect in these sources is the interruption to internet and phone service for households in Kyiv ¹. The sources do not describe in detail how people were affected or how quickly service returned.

Outages do not, by themselves, prove that all digital services in a city or country have failed. Nor do the available reports establish that the attacks caused lasting damage to civilian services.

What is still unclear about the data centre strikes?

The supplied reporting gives only a partial picture. It does not set out independent assessments of damage at the facilities, how long the Russian outages lasted, or whether data was lost. It also does not establish the full military or economic effects of the strikes.

The broader war began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, following conflict between the countries that began in 2014 ³. But the sources here are too limited to explain how data centre attacks fit into each side’s wider military planning. That assessment may change as more reliable details emerge.

What we don't know yet

How much physical damage the strikes caused at the affected data centres.
Which Russian digital services were disrupted, and for how long.
Whether the attacks caused data loss or lasting effects on civilian services.
How much the strikes affected either side’s military operations.

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Questions people ask

What is a data centre?

A data centre is a facility with computer systems that store and process information. Online services can depend on the computing capacity and connections these facilities provide.

Did Russian attacks disrupt internet service in Kyiv?

A report says Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres and mobile networks temporarily disrupted internet and phone service for as many as 100,000 households in Kyiv ¹. The supplied account does not say exactly how long the interruptions lasted.

Were Yandex data centres hit in Ukraine's response?

The report says Ukrainian drone strikes hit three large data centres owned by Russian company Yandex within several days ¹. It also reports widespread outages in Russian digital services afterward, but does not provide a full breakdown of damage or affected services.

Why could centralised digital services be at risk?

When many services depend on a limited number of major facilities, disruption at key sites may affect many users. Russian bloggers warned that Russia’s digital economy was centralised and vulnerable, but the supplied sources do not independently establish how resilient either country’s systems are ¹.

Do data centre strikes prove that military systems were disrupted?

No. The available reporting describes interruptions to civilian internet, phone, and digital services, but does not establish the effects on military systems. The extent of the strikes’ wider military consequences remains unclear.

Sources

Russia was not ready for the data center war it started with Ukraine — Ars Technica, 2026-10-12
Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present) — Wikipedia