Ukraine hits two Yandex data centres in back-to-back drone strikes

Ukraine Hacks Yandex Data Centres with Drone Strikes

Impact on Yandex's AI Training Capacity

The strikes hit Yandex's AI training capacity, with the Sasovo facility housing two supercomputers crucial for training YandexGPT, the company's AI model. The extent of the damage is still unclear, but the loss of AI training capacity could slow Yandex's AI work if the equipment cannot be recovered and restored quickly.

Fallout for Yandex and its Customers

The strikes caused temporary outages for Yandex Cloud services, affecting a range of clients including major enterprises such as Russian Railways and MegaFon. This episode is a stress test of resilience for Yandex's cloud customers, who may need to rethink their reliance on any single provider or facility.

Assessment of Damage and Restoration

Yandex is evaluating whether the damaged equipment can be restored at all. The assessment will indicate how long the disruption lasts. Any further outages at Yandex Cloud would show whether the damage is spreading beyond the initial strikes.

Potential Shift in Conflict

The strikes point to a potential shift in the conflict towards mutual targeting of digital and AI assets in both countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strikes as reciprocal, in response to earlier Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers.