moscow —
“Something is always broken, something is always not working,” says Anton, 31, from St. Petersburg. One night he returned home in the dark. His smart light bulb wasn’t lighting up.
The bulbs are powered by Yandex, a Russian technology company that provides internet-related services and digital products such as cloud, search, maps, AI, ride-hailing, and food delivery, with an ecosystem similar to Google, Uber, and Amazon combined.
“It’s a strange feeling to be sitting in a dark room with no way to turn on any lights. It felt like the power went out for some unusual reason,” he told CNN.
Since October 8, the Ukrainian attack has damaged three of the five major data centers supporting Yandex’s operations, disrupting the daily lives of millions of users. Power outages are affecting services ranging from online payments and business operations to search, navigation, ride-hailing and food delivery across Russia and neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The airstrike exposed the vulnerability of Russia’s domestic digital economy. Data centers have emerged as an Achilles’ heel as the Russian government has encouraged less reliance on Western technology amid harsh sanctions and company exits following the all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Kiev said the attack was in retaliation for Russia’s attack on Ukrainian data centers in September, which the Russian Ministry of Defense derisively described as a “digital detox,” highlighting how critical digital infrastructure has become a new front in the war.
For Anton, a history teacher who only gave his first name for privacy and security reasons, it was another reason to be fed up with what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation,” now in its fifth year.
Last year, the Kremlin also introduced its own internet blackout on “security” grounds, cracking down on VPNs and blocking popular messaging apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp.
“Every time something like this happens, it’s incredibly frustrating. For me, every time it happens, I just think about how fed up and tired I am of President (Vladimir) Putin,” Anton told CNN. He added that when such attacks occur, those around him seem to be thinking, “When will this all end?” rather than blaming Ukraine.
“There’s a general weariness. A general fatigue from the war. Every time, it makes me think again. Damn, this is so tiring. It’s really stupid that we live in these conditions,” he said.
Russians have largely been protected from the horrors on the front lines, but Ukraine is seeking to shatter the illusion that the war’s effects are far away by carrying out drone strikes deep into its territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the attacks as “long-term sanctions” for the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine.
They have been influential. President Putin himself has acknowledged as much in public statements. Attacks on refineries have caused widespread fuel shortages, while strikes on warehouses operated by Russia’s largest online retailers Wildberry and Ozone have caused disruption to small entrepreneurs who rely on their networks.
Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, also reported an attack on its data center in Barakovo, Saratov region, on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has placed the responsibility of protecting critical infrastructure against Ukrainian drone attacks on private companies.
A 33-year-old Moscow taxi driver told CNN that after the third attack on Yandex data centers in the Vladimir region on October 11, he encountered problems with the Yandex Pro app that he and other drivers use to receive and manage rides. The driver requested anonymity due to concerns for his livelihood.
“At first, the app started malfunctioning. Orders would not arrive for hours, and when they did arrive, they often contained errors. For example, Yandex could send four different cars and drivers for the same order. Even after arriving at the pick-up point and calling the passenger, the driver would find out that the passenger had already left in another taxi,” he recalls.
He said the most serious problem was that drivers were unable to withdraw the money they earned, making it difficult to pay for rental cars and gas. I eventually had to return the rental car to the taxi company because I couldn’t afford to keep driving and earn an income while paying for the car.
“For many drivers, this is not just a technical glitch; it’s a question of whether they can continue to work and support themselves,” he told CNN.
Speaking to CNN using a pseudonym, Tatyana, who lives in Moscow, said she woke up on Tuesday to find that her savings of 1.5 million rubles (approximately $17,830) no longer appeared in her Yandex Pay account. This is Russia’s equivalent of Apple Savings, which stopped working after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She was saving money for a car.
“I panicked and cried a lot. I knew I might never get the money,” Tatyana said, hoping for the best.
Yandex said in a statement that its customers’ funds are safe and that it is working to restore service to its app following the attack on three data centers.
Ukrainian defense company Fire Point trolled Yandex on X in response to a statement by Dima Pirogov, head of the tech giant’s fintech division.
“Dima, have you tried turning it off and back on?” Fire Point replied.
The message from Kiev is clear as Ukraine faces pressure from its main ally, the United States, to halt attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure and keep Russian diesel flowing into global markets. “Russia still has ways to make life uncomfortable in the Kremlin.”
