Drone strike causes fire at Yandex data centre in Russia’s Ryazan region

The company told Russian state news agency Tass that а fire caused by the drone attack broke out at its data center in the town of Sasovo, affecting a part of its infrastructure.

Yandex said the relevant teams were addressing the aftermath of the drone attack, and that there were no injuries.

It added the data center’s operations were suspended, and some services may be unavailable to users.

Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov claimed separately that two drones were shot down over the region overnight.

“In the Sasovsky district, the roof of a local enterprise caught fire, and windows were blown out in several private homes. Preliminary reports indicate there are no casualties,” Malkov said, adding that emergency services were working at the scene.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 399 Ukrainian drones over 19 regions, including Ryazan, as well as over the Black Sea and Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on the strike.

Moscow and Kyiv have ramped up strikes in recent months, targeting each other’s logistics centers, ports, and energy infrastructure. They deny deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, maintaining that the strikes are directed at military targets or facilities linked to military activities.

Later on Thursday, Ukraine's General Staff claimed it struck the Salavat oil refinery in an overnight attack in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, which is operated by state-owned energy corporation Gazprom.

Local authorities have yet to comment on the claim.