Ukrainian drones strike Russia's largest data centre

Ukrainian drones struck a major data center in the Saratov region on the Volga River, an facility owned by Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank and technology company. Despite the impact, the company reported that its operations remained unaffected. Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy CEO of Sberbank, confirmed the attack occurred but stated that all of the bank’s systems and services continue to function normally without disruption.

The targeted facility in Balakovo spans 55,000 square meters and is situated in close proximity to the Balakovo nuclear power plant. According to reports from the state news agency RIA Novosti earlier this year, the site was designated to host Russia’s largest supercomputer, which is currently scheduled to begin operations in 2027.

This incident follows a series of three similar drone attacks over the past week that targeted data centers belonging to Yandex, a major Russian technology group. Ukraine has stated that these operations are a direct response to Russian strikes against Ukrainian data infrastructure.

Sberbank and Yandex serve as the primary developers of artificial intelligence within Russia, competing domestically with their respective GigaChat and YandexGPT models. Both organizations have invested significantly in AI development, though they remain behind leading developers in the United States and China by an estimated nine months. This technological gap is attributed in part to Western sanctions, which have restricted Russian access to the advanced hardware necessary for high-level AI research and infrastructure.