Ukraine struck Russia’s largest data center, owned by Sperbank, with drones

Ukrainian drones struck on Wednesday the data processing center owned by Sberbank in the city of Balakovo, in Russia’s Saratov region, but the attack did not disrupt the operation of the bank’s systems and services, according to a company official quoted by Reuters.

“We confirm that the data processing center was attacked. At the same time, all Sberbank systems and services are operating normally and without interruptions,” said Alexander Vediahin, the bank’s first deputy chief executive officer. Sberbank said that no employees were injured.

Local authorities announced that the drones also struck a residential building in Balakovo, and one person died. It is unclear whether the victim was directly connected to the attack on the data center.

The incident comes after three Ukrainian attacks on the data centers of the Russian technology group Yandex, carried out over the past week. Their effects were felt by users in the Republic of Moldova and other countries as well. Ukraine claims that the attacks represent a response to Russian strikes on its own data centers.

Sberbank and Yandex are Russia’s main developers of artificial intelligence, with the GigaChat and YandexGPT models. The center in Balakovo, covering an area of 55,000 square meters, was due to host Russia’s largest supercomputer starting in 2027. The site is located near the Balakovo nuclear power plant and the Saratov hydroelectric power station. Neither company specified whether the supercomputers were damaged.