Ukrainian strikes on data centers within Russian territory are aimed at disrupting military planning and communications, but they have also had an impact on other areas—Russians are complaining about longer wait times for dinners ordered via apps, reports Politico.Kyiv’s drone strikes on Yandex data centers in Sasovo, Kaluga, and Vladimir caused disruptions for thousands of businesses and households that rely on Yandex’s cloud infrastructure—including e-commerce platforms, digital payment systems, and apps for food delivery and taxi services. On the 14th of October, Ukrainian forces struck a Sberbank data center in the Saratov region, though a company official stated that no operational disruptions occurred.Following the strikes on the data centers, Kyiv pointed out that Moscow has repeatedly attacked its digital infrastructure. A high-ranking official familiar with the operation remarked that the Ukrainians wanted to show that two can play at this game.These attacks and counter-attacks highlight a new front line in the war: the infrastructure that sustains digital economies. Attacks on facilities that provide computing power are comparable to attacks on power plants that supply electricity, heating, and fuel for both military and civilian needs. Such strikes can weaken an adversary’s ability to wage war while simultaneously bringing daily life to a standstill. Experts have noted that restoring Russian data centers will be exceptionally costly, as it requires rare raw materials that must be imported. Oleg Shakirov, a researcher specializing in cyber policy and international security, stated that replacing equipment destroyed in large-scale strikes would be difficult; he pointed out that most of the hardware must be imported—a challenging task due to both high global demand and the sanctions imposed on Russia. He added that the full extent of the damage remains unknown, though the fact that two data centers remain offline suggests it is significant.Researcher Joseph Jarnacki warned that the normalization of strikes against data centers could lead to new and dangerous consequences. He told *Politico* that such attacks pose a major risk at a time when the world is becoming increasingly reliant on digital services. Data centers have also come into focus in other recent armed conflicts. In the context of the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel, drones from Tehran attacked three Amazon facilities located in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Because data centers can serve both civilian and military purposes, the legal status of such attacks is complex. Kubo Mačák, an expert in international humanitarian law, stated that for data centers to qualify as military objectives, two conditions must be met: they must be used in military operations, and their destruction must offer a clear military advantage. If they store military intelligence or are used to power military artificial intelligence tools, they may be classified as military targets.Following attacks on Yandex data centers, users on the platform X reported a sharp decline in bot activity—including among accounts associated with pro-Russian narratives, support for Donald Trump, or the German far-right party Alternative for Germany. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seized on these reports to suggest that the strikes had rendered the social media landscape less toxic. Mačák stated that the use of data centers to operate troll farms or bots—aimed at influencing elections in other countries—does not constitute sufficient grounds for strikes. In other words, the researcher argues that the mere hosting of propaganda bots does not, in itself, render data centers a legitimate military target.The dilemma of “dual-use” infrastructure has frequently been raised in the context of attacks on energy infrastructure—a recurring feature of the war in Ukraine. On the 10th of October, Trump urged Ukraine to cease strikes on Russian oil refineries, arguing that such actions drive up fuel prices. He has called on both sides to halt attacks on energy infrastructure; however, the status of any potential “energy truce” remains unclear.
Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers – a problem for Moscow and beyond
