The Register reported on 12 October 2026 that Ukrainian drone strikes hit three of Yandex’s five Russian datacenters. Outage details come from a Yandex executive, the Yandex Cloud status page and Netblocks, as cited by The Register. TSN has not independently verified the damage.
Update, 13 Oct 2026
The Kremlin said on 13 October that the Russian government was discussing the problems Yandex faces after the strikes on its data centres, Reuters reported [2]. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov “said it was too early to assess whether users had suffered financial losses from outages caused by the attacks,” according to Reuters [2].
Asked whether the government was considering a way to compensate users, Peskov said Yandex was “currently facing difficulties, and of course the matter is being discussed by the government, but the company is taking urgent steps to address the consequences of the attack,” Reuters reported [2]. “The company is strong and powerful,” he told reporters [2].
The Russian business daily Kommersant carried the same comments from Peskov’s briefing: “Вы знаете, что компания сильная, мощная. Да, она столкнулась сейчас с трудностями. Конечно же, эта тема сейчас обсуждается в правительстве” [3]. (TSN translation: “You know that the company is strong and powerful. Yes, it is now facing difficulties. Of course, this subject is now being discussed in the government.”) Kommersant also reported that Russia’s digital ministry (Mintsifry) and defence ministry are discussing measures to protect data centres [3].
Yandex engineers are working to restore services after drone strikes on “three of its five Russian datacenters”, The Register reported on 12 October 2026 [1]. Yandex’s public cloud platform is running in a limited mode and its Yandex Pay payments service remains offline, according to the report [1].
Which sites were hit
According to The Register [1]:
- Sasovo: strikes overnight on 7-8 October were “seriously damaging” to the datacenter and led to a total shutdown.
- Kaluga: a strike on the morning of 9 October took part of the site’s infrastructure offline.
- Vladimir: a third strike, on 11 October, targeted the site that supports Yandex Pay.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the attacks were a response to Russian strikes on datacenters in Kyiv, The Register reported [1].
Yandex Pay
Dima Pirogov, head of Yandex’s fintech division, confirmed the Vladimir strike on Telegram on Sunday, 11 October, The Register reported [1]. A day later the service was still offline. Pirogov said users’ money is safe, and wrote: “We can’t give you a precise timeline for the restoration yet, but we promise: we won’t stop until the service is back online.” [1]
Yandex Cloud
The Yandex Cloud status page lists widespread outages, The Register reported, though updates suggest some customers can reach some features, such as the Yandex Cloud Console and API [1]. In its most recent update, quoted by The Register, Yandex Cloud said: “The Yandex Cloud platform is still operating in a limited mode. Our specialists continue restoration work around the clock.” It added: “We recommend using alternative sites for hosting and reserving resources.” [1]
In plain terms, Yandex is telling cloud customers to run their services and keep spare capacity elsewhere while it repairs.
Internet monitoring group Netblocks reported that Yandex Cloud’s network connectivity was at “30 percent of normal levels on October 11”, according to The Register [1].
Other Yandex services
Yandex said engineers are prioritising its most-used services, and that access to its Alice AI assistant, Mail, Maps, Search and Taxi is being restored, while other features remain offline, The Register reported [1].
What is not known
- When Yandex Cloud and Yandex Pay will be fully restored. Pirogov said there is no precise timeline [1].
- The full extent of damage at each site. The figures and descriptions above are The Register’s and those it cites.
Sources
- The Register (Connor Jones), “Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex datacenters knock cloud and payments offline”, 12 October 2026. https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/12/ukrainian-drone-strikes-on-yandex-datacenters-knock-cloud-and-payments-offline/5302577
- Reuters via Global Banking & Finance Review, “Kremlin says the government is discussing Yandex’s problems after Ukrainian strikes on its data centres”, 13 Oct 2026: https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/kremlin-government-discussing-yandexs-problems-ukrainian/
- Kommersant, “Песков назвал преждевременным разговор о финансовых потерях «Яндекса» после атак” (TSN translation: “Peskov calls talk of Yandex’s financial losses after the attacks premature”), 13 Oct 2026: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/9025484
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